ce Griffin seemed to grow smaller, for he crouched down as a cat that
is going to spring, and raised his shield before him, so that from where
I stood behind Ragnar I could only see his black glittering eyes and
round helm above its edge. And his right arm was drawn back, so that
only the point of his heavy leaf-bladed sword was to be seen glancing
from the right edge steadily. And now his eyes were steady as the sword
point, which was no brighter than they. If once he got inside the sweep
of the great axe it would be bad for Ragnar.

One step forward went the earl, shield up and axe balanced, but Griffin
never moved. Then Ragnar leapt forward and struck out, but I could see
that it was a feint, and he recovered at once. Griffin's shield had gone
up in a moment above his head, and in a moment it was back in its place,
and over it his eyes glared as before, unwavering. And then, like a
wildcat, he sprang at Ragnar, making no sweeping blow with his sword,
but thrusting with straight arm, so that the whole weight of his flying
body was behind the point. Ragnar struck out, but the square shield was
overhead to stay the blow, and full on the round Danish buckler the
point of the short sword rang, for the earl was ready to meet it.

In a moment the Welshman was back in his crouching guard, leaving a
great ragged hole in the shield whence he had wrenched his weapon point
in a way that told of a wrist turn that had been long practised. Ragnar
had needed no leech, had his quick eye not saved him from that thrust.

Then for a breathing space the two watched each other, while we held our
breath, motionless. And then Griffin slowly began to circle round his
foe, still crouching.

Then, like a thunderbolt, Ragnar's axe swept down on the thane, and
neither shield nor helm would have been of avail had that blow gone
home. Back leapt Griffin, and the axe shore the edge only of his shield;
and then, shield aloft and point foremost, he flew on the earl before
the axe had recovered from its swing, and I surely thought that the end
had come, for the earl's shield was lowered, and his face was unguarded.

But that was what he looked for. Up and forward flew the round shield,
catching the thane's straightened arm along its whole length, and then,
as sword and arm were dashed upwards, smiting him fairly in the face;
and, like a stone, the Welshman was hurled from it, and fell backward in
a heap on the grass three paces away. It seemed to m