They wore coats of mail, woven with interlocked rings. The coastguard watched the approach of this band, as he had done before. He did not insult them by greeting these guests from the rim of the cliff, but rode down toward them, proclaiming these shining warriors returning to their ship would be most welcome to the people of the Weders. Then on the beach the curved wide boat was loaded with war-gear, the ring-prowed ship filled with horses and treasures. The mast towered high over the hoard of riches given out by Hrothgar. To the guardian of the boat Beowulf gave a sword, bound round with gold, so later on the mead-bench the man was more honored for holding this treasure, an ancient heirloom. Then Beowulf mounted the boat, to drive through deep waters, leaving the Danish land. There by the mast was a sheet of sea-garment, a sail held fast by a rope. The ship’s planks creaked; the wind over waters did not hinder the wave-floater from steering its course. The sea-vessel plunged on, its neck spraying foam, floating over the flood, the tightly bound prow pitching over the streams—till the sailors could see the high cliffs of the Geats, the well-known headlands, and the ship shot forward, buffeted by winds, to land up on the beach.
