But in no way could we lift Thor himself.  It was as if he were rooted, and maybe he was so.  Therefore we left him, but sadly.

One may suppose that, had any noticed that Grim was taking these sacred things with him, there would have been a talk; but as we sailed light, none thought them aught but needed ballast; and we brought other stones to the ship with them and afterwards.

Of course folk did wonder at this sudden sailing of ours, but my father made no secret of his wish to get out of the way of Hodulf, who had taken the ships of one or two other men elsewhere, so that all thought he feared that his would be the next to be seized, and deemed him prudent in going.  As for our own crew, they were told that it was certain that the ship would be taken unless we went on this tide, and so they worked well.

Very early in the morning, and unseen, Arngeir had brought Eleyn, the queen, on board, and she was in the cabin under the raised after deck all the while that the bustle of making ready was going on.  Only my father went in there at any time, unless he gave the key to one of us, for there he kept his valuables and the arms.

Presently, when all the men were forward and busy, I got Havelok on board unnoticed.  We had kept Withelm running to and fro from ship to house with little burdens all the morning, mightily busy; and then, when the chance came, Havelok in Withelm’s clothes, and with a bundle on his head, came running to me.  I waited by the after cabin, and I opened the door quickly and let him in.  Then he saw his mother; and how those two met, who had thought each other lost beyond finding, I will not try to say.

I closed the door softly and left them, locking it again, and found Withelm close to me, and Arngeir watching to see that all went well.

Soon after that there came a Norseman, dressed as a merchant, who talked with my father of goods, and lading, and whither he was bound, and the like.  When he went away, he thought that he had found out that we were for the Texel, but I do not know that he was from Hodulf.  There had been time for him to send a spy in haste, however, if he wished to watch us; but at any rate this man heard naught of our charges.

Then, at the last moment, my mother and the children came on board, and at once we hauled out of the harbour.  I mind that an old woman ran along the wharf when she found that all were going, and cried that Dame Leva had not paid for certain fowls bought of her; and my father laughed in lightness of heart, and threw her a silver penny, so that she let us go with a blessing.  And after that it did not matter what the people thought of this going of ours, for in an hour we were far at sea with a fair wind on the quarter, heading south at first, that the Norseman might see us, but when the land was dim astern, and there was no more fear, bearing away south and west for the Humber in far-off England.