Harold Lamb

“ I seem to remember that you learned your craft in Spain in Seville.”
“That is true,” assented Master Thorne readily, pleased in spite of his distrust of the strangers, at the compliment.
“Such knowledge is priceless in these days of discovery,” pursued my lord Renard amiably. “Perhaps it had been better for you if it were not. The merchants of Orfordnesse do not value you justly, but I——”
As idly as if he were casting dust from his fingers, he tossed the sheets he held into the fire, first handing the rapier to the gentleman who attended him. ”

“ He has an itch for gold in his fingers, and my lord Renard hath paid out to him some round sums. Aye, I mind he bought a pinnace with a dragon figurehead, to sail around like a lord in the northern seas. He did bespeak my aid in charting a course.”
Master Thorne pondered a moment.
“The man is bold and a skilled navigant. He has coasted the shores of Norway to the north point where begins the Ice Sea. From there, the course he had in mind ran thus:
“From the Wardhouse a hundred and twenty leagues to the arm of the inland sea, south by east. ”

“ Why the Wardhouse or Guardhouse lieth—so I have heard, for no Christian voyager hath set foot upon it—at the north point. 'Tis there in a tower or castle the Easterlings keep watch and ward upon the Ice Sea. ”