ars on his ships,
and did not join the fray. So says Skule Thorsteinson, who at that time
was with Earl Eirik:--

"I followed Sigvalde in my youth,
And gallant Eirik, and in truth
The' now I am grown stiff and old,
In the spear-song I once was bold.
Where arrows whistled on the shore
Of Svold fjord my shield I bore,
And stood amidst the loudest clash
When swords on shields made fearful crash."

And Halfred also sings thus:--

"In truth I think the gallant king,
Midst such a foemen's gathering,
Would be the better of some score
Of his tight Throndhjem lads, or more;
For many a chief has run away,
And left our brave king in the fray,
Two great kings' power to withstand,
And one great earl's, with his small band,
The king who dares such mighty deed
A hero for his skald would need."

116. FLIGHT OF SVEIN AND OLAF THE SWEDE.

This battle was one of the severest told of, and many were the people
slain. The forecastle men of the Long Serpent, the Little Serpent, and
the Crane, threw grapplings and stem chains into King Svein's ship, and
used their weapons well against the people standing below them, for they
cleared the decks of all the ships they could lay fast hold of; and
King Svein, and all the men who escaped, fled to other vessels, and laid
themselves out of bow-shot. It went with this force just as King Olaf
Trygvason had foreseen. Then King Olaf the Swede laid himself in their
place; but when he came near the great ships it went with him as with
them, for he lost many men and some ships, and was obliged to get away.
But Earl Eirik laid his ship side by side with the outermost of King
Olaf's ships, thinned it of men, cut the cables, and let it drive. Then
he laid alongside of the next, and fought until he had cleared it of men
also. Now all the people who were in the smaller ships began to run into
the larger, and the earl cut them loose as fast as he cleared them of
men. The Danes and Swedes laid themselves now out of shooting distance
all around Olaf's ship; but Earl Eirik lay always close alongside of the
ships, and used hid swords and battle-axes, and as fast as people fell
in his vessel others, Danes and Swedes, came in their place. So says
Haldor, the Unchristian:--

"Sharp was the clang of shield and sword,
And shrill the song of spears on board,
And whistling arrows thickly flew
Agai