"Why should I not choose to go up on to the Island to deliver my trothplight maiden?
For the rest, slay me if thou canst, if we come alive out of this cauldron of waters." Said the big red man: "Look on then, and note Fox how he steereth, as it were through a needle's eye." Now were they underneath the black shadow of the black cliff and amidst the twilight the surf was tossed about like white fire.

In the lower heavens the stars were beginning to twinkle and the moon was bright and yellow, and aloft all was peaceful, for no cloud sullied the sky.

One moment Hallblithe saw all this hanging above the turmoil of thundering water and dripping rock and the next he was in the darkness of the cave, the roaring wind and the waves still making thunder about him, though of a different voice from the harsh hubbub without.

Then he heard Fox say: "Sit down now and take the oars, for presently shall we be at home at the landing place." So Hallblithe took the oars and rowed, and as they went up the cave the sea fell, and the wind died out into the aimless gustiness of hollow places; and for a little while was all as dark as dark might be.

Then Hallblithe saw that the darkness grew a little greyer, and he looked over his shoulder and saw a star of light before the bows of the boat, and Fox cried out: "Yea, it is like day; bright will the moon be for such as needs must be wayfaring to-night! Cease rowing, O Son of the coal-blue fowl, for there is way enough on her." Then Hallblithe lay on his oars, and in a minute the bows smote the land; then he turned about and saw a steep stair of stone, and up the sloping shaft thereof the moonlit sky and the bright stars.