The fisher folk, if there were any huts at the landing place, might all be away at the muster, and no aid might be waiting us.
I know that all these things went through the mind of my comrade at this time, and from the troubled look on the face of Gerda as she steered, it was plain that she, too, had her doubts as to the end of this race.

Then Bertric spoke to me over his shoulder.
"We had better head seaward after all," he said.

"What think you of our chance of reaching yon ships before we are overhauled?
We shall be caught before we reach a landing, or else taken on the very beach, as we go now." I looked at the two strange ships.

They were three miles from shore, and perhaps at the same distance from us eastward, still heading west and a little out to sea.
"It is our best plan," I answered.

"We shall get the wind abeam, and ought to sail away from that great boat.