King Olaf ordered the war-horns to sound for all his ships to close up
to each other. The king's ship lay in the middle of the line, and on
one side lay the Little Serpent, and on the other the Crane; and as they
made fast the stems together (1), the Long Serpent's stem and the short
Serpent's were made fast together; but when the king saw it he called
out to his men, and ordered them to lay the larger ship more in advance,
so that its stern should not lie so far behind in the fleet.
Then says Ulf the Red, "If the Long Serpent is to lie as much more ahead
of the other ships as she is longer than them, we shall have hard work
of it here on the forecastle."
The king replies, "I did not think I had a forecastle man afraid as well
as red."