As far as I can make out, it is the remains of an old war galley." "Then it must have belonged to the Danes." "Danes or Saxons, Dick." "But the wood's sound," cried Tom.

"It can't be so old as that." "Why not, Tom?
Your people dig out pine-roots, don't they, perfectly sound, and full of turpentine?
This is pine wood, and full of turpentine too." "But it's such a while since the Danes and Saxons were here, Mr Marston," said Tom.
"A mere yesterday, my lad, compared to the time when the country about here was a great pine and birch forest, before this peat began to form." "Before the peat began to form!" "To be sure! Pine and birch don't grow in peaty swamps, but in sandy ground with plenty of gravel.

Look all about you at the scores of great pine-roots my men have dug out.

They are all pine, and there must have been quite a large forest here once." "And was that farther back ?" "Perhaps thousands of years before the Danes first landed.

The peat preserves the wood, Tom.