Section 52 The White Ship. — VI
They rowed back. When1 the prince held out his arms to catch2 his sister, such3 numbers lept in, that the boat was overset; and in the same instant the White Ship went4 down.
Only two men floated5: a nobleman, Godfrey by name, and a poor butcher of Rouen. By and by6 another man came swimming towards them, whom7 they knew, when he had pushed aside his long wet hair, to be Fitz-Stephen.
When he heard that the prince and all his retinue had8 gone down, Fitz-Stephen, with a ghastly face9, cried: “Woe, woe to me!” and sank10 to the bottom.
Notes
1 Supply here the conj. aber.
2 auf´fangen.
3 Say ‘so many persons jumped into the boat, that it capsized’.
4 Supply the adverb auch after the verb.
5 to float, auf dem Wasser schwimmen; of Rouen, aus Rouen.
6 Kurz darauf; supply the adverb noch before ‘another’. He comes swimming towards me, er kommt auf mich zu´geschwommen.
7 Say ‘in whom they recognised Fitz-Stephen, when he’, etc.; to push aside = to throw back.
8 had gone down, den Tod erlitten. The auxiliary verb (had) may here be omitted, for: In subordinate clauses, the auxiliary verbs (haben, sein, and werden) are often omitted for the sake of conciseness and elegance; as—
Daß sie mir genommen (wurde), ist mein größtes Leid. That she was taken from me is my greatest sorrow.
9 with — face, totenbleich, adv. How must the words be arranged here?
10 to sink to the bottom, in die Tiefe hinab´sinken. Supply the adv. dann after the verb, which will establish a closer connection between this clause and the preceding one.