"What further counsel hath he?" asked Sigurd.
"Answer him, thou," said the jarl to Ben Ezra.
"O warrior of the Saxons," said the Jew, "thou sayest that thou hast sailed these seas aforetime. Thou mayest know that the presence of one Roman trireme portendeth the speedy gathering of a fleet. It were well to destroy this one if she cometh near us again. But we have now escaped her pursuing. Let her watchers not see this ship again. I would advise that we now go eastward by the stars, for we may note them at times through the rifts in the clouds."
"I will so order," said the jarl. "I were not wise to risk harming my own keel by a battle among these high waves. It is a peril to a ship to be dashed against even one heavy timber where the aim cannot be made certain. Moreover, we have been long at sea and it were well to seek a harbor."
Ben Ezra said no more, now that his counsel was approved. The head of _The Sword_ was turned eastward and all the oars were plying. Neither was the wind now so much against her, but the waves were still tumultuous. Fast waned the night, growing darker as it passed, and the jarl himself remained at the helm.
"I go onward into an unknown sea," he thought. "Who may tell what may be before me? Dawn cometh. There is gray light. O watcher!"
Answered him then not a Saxon, but the deep voice of Ben Ezra from the foremast.
"Cease rowing, all!" shouted Ulric. "O Jew, look again. What seest thou?"
"Only a dim fire, far in the southward. It is a guide for us, but we may seek it cautiously. The wind goeth down."
"It is so," said Knud the Bear. "It was a hot wind, and this air is cooler. I thought we were sailing into a furnace."
"The desert is like a furnace, I have heard," said Sigurd. "Men burn up in it and all horses die; but lions live there. How can any beast live in a land of fire?"
"I know not," said Ulric, "but yonder is a brighter streak of dawn. We shall soon know if the Romans are near us. We may slay them if the water becometh smooth enough for a good fight."
"It would be a grief to all men," said Tostig the Red, "if we lost an opportunity. But if this be land, I want some beef."
"Good!" exclaimed an old viking. "We had many cattle on the Gaulish coast, but in Spain we got little but sheep. Hereaway may be found cattle. We may throw a net, and we may find fishes."