"If they make the pile very big it may reach us well enough. They have
plenty of hands and no lack of wood. See, they are piling it to
windward. God grant that the breeze may not increase, else shall we
have to forsake the fortress. Nevertheless our good ship is at hand,"
he added, in a more cheerful tone, "and they will find us tough to deal
with when we get upon the water.--Come, lads, we will at all events
harass if we cannot stop them."
So saying, Leif ordered the men to keep up a constant discharge of
arrows whenever they obtained a glimpse of the savages, and he himself
headed a sally and drove them back to the woods. But as soon as he and
his men had returned to the fortress, out came the savages again like a
swarm of bees, and continued their work vigorously.
Thus the morning passed away, and the pile of the intended bonfire,
despite the arrows and the frequent sallies of the Norsemen, continued
slowly but steadily to grow.