My feet touched ground, and other hands held me, and then I was ashore, and spent almost nigh to death.

Well for me it was that in the old days by the Stour river I had loved to swim and dive in the deep pool behind the island, for I had learned to save my breath.

Had I not done so, the choking of the great wave had surely ended my days.
It was Olaf who had saved me.

Almost had we won to the high ground when I had let go his stirrup leather, and then the shoreward edge of the wave had caught me.

But he had faced its fury as he saw me borne away, and had snatched me from it as it tossed me near the bank again.