There was water to fetch from the shore when we could find it , as well as wild fruit and grasses , and sand for scrubbing of the decks and benches to keep them sweet . Also we hauled the ship out on low islands and emptied all her gear , even to the iron wedges , and burned off the weed , that had grown on her , with torches of rush , and smoked below the decks with rushes dampened in salt water , as Hlaf the Woman orders in her Ship-Book . Once when we were thus stripped , and the ship lay propped on her keel , the bird cried , `` Out swords ! '' as though she saw an enemy . Witta vowed he would wring her neck . ' ` Poor Polly ! Did he ? ' said Una . ` Nay . She was the ship 's bird . She could call all the rowers by name ... Those were good days -- for a wifeless man -- with Witta and his heathen -- beyond the world 's end . ... After many weeks we came on the great Shoal which stretched , as Witta 's father had said , far out to sea . We skirted it till we were giddy with the sight and dizzy with the sound of bars and breakers , and when we reached land again we found a naked black people dwelling among woods , who for one wedge of iron loaded us with fruits and grasses and eggs . Witta scratched his head at them in sign he would buy gold . They had no gold , but they understood the sign -LRB- all the gold-traders hide their gold in their thick hair -RRB- , for they pointed along the coast . They beat , too , on their chests with their clenched hands , and that , if we had known it , was an evil sign . ' ` What did it mean ? ' said Dan . ` Patience . Ye shall hear .
We followed the coast eastward sixteen XXXXX -LRB- counting time by sword-cuts on the helm-rail -RRB- till we came to the Forest in the Sea .
Dan Hlaf Polly Ship-Book Witta days gold-traders rowers wedges weeks