OCEAN, THE UNIVERSAL HIGHWAY 213 



northern pirates, their crews unswayed by any such 

 modern notions as mercy, justice, kindness, or fair 

 play. Such was the terror they inspired, that it was 

 only by making their descent upon any place a com- 

 plete surprise that they could compass any success in 

 their undertakings with the smallest notice of their 

 coming; the inhabitants disappeared inland, bearing 

 with them the most easily portable and precious of 

 their possessions. In case of a surprise, the story was 

 always the same indiscriminate slaughter for awhile, 

 then selection of the fairest of the women, then fan- 

 tastic cruelty to the few prisoners reserved for that 

 purpose, wild debauchery, and departure with the 

 plunder. 



Yet, in spite of their piracy, and of the manner in 

 which, owing to the terror they inspired, there was no 

 possibility of any growth of peaceful trading among 

 the people who inhabited the Southern European 

 shores, they undoubtedly did good work in extending 

 the ocean range of seafaring. Regardless of privation, 

 greedy of adventure, and apparently impervious to 

 cold, they gradually crept across the North Atlantic 

 in their frail craft until, centuries before Columbus or 

 Amerigo Vespucci were born, they discovered the 

 mainland of America. But they were not colonists ; 

 their only ideas were warfare and plunder, and so 

 America remained a terra incognita, waiting its due 

 time. The Vikings, meanwhile, returning to their 

 own land without plunder, but full of stories of adven- 

 ture, turned their attention entirely to the rich lands 

 of the South, with what result we know. Proving as 

 doughty warriors by land as they had been invincible 

 by sea, they overran Europe, overthrowing the existing 



