served that blood was running down under his steel glove, but no one knew where he was wounded.

CHAPTER CXX.-The Serpent Boarded.

Desperate was the defence in the Serpent, and there was the heaviest destruction of men done by the forecastle crew, and those of the forehold, for in both places the men were chosen men, and the ship was highest; but in the middle of the ship the people were thinned. Now when Earl Eirik saw there were but few people remaining beside the ship's mast, he determined to board; and he entered the Serpent with four others. Then came Hyrning, the king's brother-in-law, and some others against him, and there was the most severe combat; and at last the earl was forced to leap back on board his own ship again, and some who had accompanied him were killed, and others wounded. Thord Kolbeinson

alludes to this:

"On Odin's deck, all wet with blood,

The helm-adorned hero stood;

And gallant Hyrning honour gained,

Clearing all round with sword deep stained.
The high mountain peaks shall fall,

Ere men forget this to recall."

Now the fight became hot indeed, and many men fell on board the Serpent; and the men on board of her began to be thinned off, and the defence to be weaker. The earl resolved to board the Serpent again, and again he met with a warm reception. When the forecastle men of the Serpent saw what

he was doing, they went aft and made a desperate fight; but so many men of the Serpent had fallen, that the ship's sides were in many places quite bare of defenders; and the earl's men poured in all around into the vessel, and all the men who were still able to defend the ship crowded aft to the king, and arrayed themselves for his defence. So says Haldor the Unchristian :

"Eirik cheers on his men,

'On to the charge again!'

The gallant few

Of Olaf's crew
Must refuge take
On the quarter-deck.
Around the king
They stand in ring;
Their shields enclose
The king from foes,

And the few who still remain

Fight madly, but in vain.

Eirik cheers on his men

'On to the charge again!'"

CHAPTER CXXI.-The Serpent's Decks Cleared.

Kolbiorn the marshal, who had on clothes and arms like the king's, and was a remarkably stout and handsome man, went up to the king on the quarterdeck. The battle was still going on fiercely even in the forehold.* But as many of the earl's men had now got into the Serpent as could find room, and his

* From the occasional descriptions of vessels in this and other battles, it may be inferred that even the Long Serpent, described in the 95th chapter as of 150 feet of keel, was only decked fore and aft; the thirty-four benches for rowers occupying the open area in the middle, and probably gangways running along the sides for communicating from the quarterdeck to the forecastle.-L.

ships lay all round her, and few were the people left in the Serpent for defence against so great a force; and in a short time most of the Serpent's men fell, brave and stout though they were. King Olaf and Kolbiorn the marshal both sprang overboard, each on his own side of the ship; but the earl's men had laid out boats around the Serpent, and killed those who leaped overboard. Now when the King had sprung overboard, they tried to seize him with their hands, and bring him to Earl Eirik; but King Olaf threw his shield over his head, and sank beneath the waters. Kolbiorn held his shield behind him to protect himself from the spears cast at him from the ships which lay round the Serpent, and he fell so upon his shield that it came under him, so that he could not sink so quickly. He was thus taken and brought into a boat, and they supposed he was the king. He was brought before the earl; and when the earl saw it was Kolbiorn, and not the king, he gave him his life. At the same moment all of King Olaf's men who were in life sprang overboard from the Serpent; and Thorkel Nefia, the king's brother, was the last of all the men who sprang overboard. It is thus told concerning the king by Halfred :

"The Serpent and the Crane
Lay wrecks upon the main.
On his sword he cast a glance,-

With it he saw no chance.

To his marshal, who of yore

Many a war-chance had come o'er,
He spoke a word-then drew in breath,
And sprang to his deep-sea death."

CXXII. Of the Report among the People of the Island.

Earl Sigvalde, as before related, came from Vindland, in company with King Olaf, with ten ships; but the eleventh ship was manned with the men of Astrid, the king's daughter, the wife of Earl Sigvalde. Now when King Olaf sprang overboard, the whole army raised a shout of victory; and then Earl Sigvalde and his men put their oars in the water and rowed towards the battle. Haldor the Unchristian tells of it thus:

"Then first the Vindland vessels came

Into the fight with little fame;
The fight still lingered on the wave,
Tho' hope was gone with Olaf brave.
War, like a full-fed ravenous beast,
Still oped her grim jaws for the feast.
The few who stood now quickly fled,
When the shout told-'Olaf is dead!'"

But the Vindland cutter, in which Astrid's men were, rowed back to Vindland; and the report went immediately abroad, and was told by many, that King Olaf had cast off his coat-of-mail under water, and had swum, diving under the long-ships, until he came to the Vindland cutter, and that Astrid's men had conveyed him to Vindland and many tales have been made since about the adventures of Olaf the king. Halfred speaks thus about it :

"Does Olaf live? or is he dead?

Has he the hungry ravens fed?

I scarcely know what I should say,
For many tell the tale each way.
This I can say, nor fear to lie,
That he was wounded grievously—

VOL. II.

Р

So wounded in this bloody strife,

He scarce could come away with life."

But however this may have been, King Olaf Trygveson never came back again to his kingdom of Norway. Halfred Vandredaskald speaks also thus about it:

"The witness who reports this thing

Of Trygveson, our gallant king,

Once served the king, and truth should tell,
For Olaf hated lies like hell.

If Olaf 'scaped from this sword-thing,
Worse fate, I fear, befell our king
Than people guess, or e'er can know,
For he was hemm'd in by the foe.
From the far east some news is rife
Of king sore wounded saving life;
His death, too sure, leaves me no care
For cobweb rumours in the air.

It never was the will of fate

That Olaf from such perilous strait

Should 'scape with life: this truth may grieve-
'What people wish they soon believe.'"

CHAPTER CXXIII.-Of Earl Eirik the Son of Hakon.

By this victory Earl Eirik Hakonson became owner of the Long Serpent, and made a great booty besides ; and he steered the Serpent from the battle. So says Haldor :

"Olaf, with glittering helmet crowned,

Had steered the Serpent through the Sound;
And people dressed their boats, and cheered,
As Olaf's fleet in splendour steered.
But the descendant of great Heming,
Whose race tells many a gallant sea-king,
His blue sword in red life-blood stained,
And bravely Olaf's long-ship gained."

Svein, a son of Earl Hakon, and Earl Eirik's