They asked him many questions concerning the Dragon.

Most of these he answered readily enough, but he evaded those as to the place where she had been built, or the port from which she had sailed.

It was not until late in the afternoon that they arrived at the abode of the Jarl Bijorn.
It was a rough abode constructed of timber, thatched with rushes, for as yet the Northmen were scarcely a settled people, the tribes for the most part wandering in the forests hunting when not engaged in those warlike expeditions which they loved above all other things.

Only the leaders dwelt in anything like permanent abodes, the rest raising huts of boughs at such places as they might make any stay at.
One of Edmund's conductors had gone on ahead, and as the party approached the building Bijorn came out from his house to meet them.

He was, like almost all Northmen, a man of great stature and immense strength.