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Page 351
Indeed, the three had too much to do to yield to their own fear and sickness. It was first necessary to pacify their women, who had become so seasick and hysterical that a few attempted to throw themselves overboard.
Once or twice there was a sighting of land, but that was a cause for real terror. At the speed they were running, the sweep oar would break if it were necessary to bring the ship about hard. Oars were useless in a sea that tossed the ship like a chip in a freshet, and to drop the sail would bring immediate disaster by permitting the vessel to turn broadside and be swamped. The captain kept well away from the dark shadows on the horizon.
Night drew on. The women dropped into stupors of exhaustion one by one until, at last, Joanna and Alinor crouched with their arms around Berengaria, huddling together for warmth and comfort. Little by little the waves quieted and the wind dropped. The men slept at their oars and scattered about the free spaces of the deck wherever they had fallen like abandoned dolls. Beorn and the captain, their tentative liking of each other rapidly ripened into trust and friendship by crisis, stood alternate watches until a quiet dawn broke and showed them they were safe. Safe, but where? Around them the open sea smiled quietly under an open sky, but even the far-seeing lookout clinging to the top of the mast could discern neither land nor sign of any other ship.
Most of the main fleet, although also tossed about, managed to keep together and sailed steadily on until they made safe harbor in Crete on April 17. Here Richard was able to take account of his vessels. And here, for the first time, the King and his companions realized that the vessel carrying the women and twenty-four other ships were missing. Richard's fair complexion flamed and Simon turned so white that Henry of Champagne, the King's nephew, caught his arm to support him. Messengers were sent flying in every

 
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