South and east of the Forest my father came to a place where the men hid gold in their hair ; but all that country , he said , was full of Devils who lived in trees , and tore folk limb from limb . How think ye ? '' ' `` Gold or no gold , '' said Hugh , fingering his sword , `` it is a joyous venture . Have at these Devils of thine , Witta ! '' ' `` Venture ! '' said Witta sourly . `` I am only a poor sea-thief . I do not set my life adrift on a plank for joy , or the venture . Once I beach ship again at Stavanger , and feel the wife 's arms round my neck , I 'll seek no more ventures . A ship is heavier care than a wife or cattle . '' ` He leaped down among the rowers , chiding them for their little strength and their great stomachs . Yet Witta was a wolf in fight , and a very fox in cunning . ` We were driven South by a storm , and for three days and three nights he took the stern-oar , and threddled the longship through the sea . When it rose beyond measure he brake a pot of whale 's oil upon the water , which wonderfully smoothed it , and in that anointed patch he turned her head to the wind and threw out oars at the end of a rope , to make , he said , an anchor at which we lay rolling sorely , but dry . This craft his father Guthrum had shown him . He knew , too , all the Leech-Book of Bald , who was a wise doctor , and he knew the Ship-Book of Hlaf the Woman , who robbed Egypt . He knew all the care of a ship . ` After the storm we saw a mountain whose top was covered with snow and pierced the clouds . The grasses under this mountain , boiled and eaten , are a good cure for soreness of the gums and swelled ankles . We lay there eight days , till men in skins threw stones at us .
When the heat increased XXXXX spread a cloth on bent sticks above the rowers , for the wind failed between the Island of the Mountain and the shore of Africa , which is east of it .
Bald Egypt Guthrum Witta Woman longship nights rowers sea-thief whale