nd he might only do this--loose the axe
before it clove Skallagrim in twain. He loosed and away the great axe
flew. It passed over the head of Skallagrim, and sped like light across
the wide hall, till it crashed through the panelling on the further
side, and buried itself to the haft in the wall beyond.

"It is not for me to kill thee, drunkard! Go, die in thy drink!"

"Then I will kill myself!" cried the Baresark, and, rushing across the
hall he tore the great axe from its bed.

"Hold!" said Eric; "perhaps there is yet a deed for thee to do. Then
thou mayest die, if it pleases thee."

"Ay," said Skallagrim coming back, "perchance there is still a deed to
do!"

And, flinging down the axe, Skallagrim Lambstail the Baresark fell upon
the floor and wept.

But Eric did not weep. Only he drew Whitefire from the heart of Gudruda
and looked at it.

"Thou art a strange sword, Whitefire," he said, "who slayest both friend
and foe! Shame on thee, Whitefire! We swore our oath on thee, Whitefire,
and thou hast cut its chain! Now I am minded to shatter thee." And as
Eric looked on the great blade, lo! it hummed strangely in answer.

"'First must thou be the death of some,' thou sayest? Well, maybe,
Whitefire! But never yet didst thou drink so sweet a life as hers who
now lies dead, nor ever shalt again."

Then he sheathed the sword, but neither then nor afterwards did he wipe
the blood of Gudruda from its blade.

"Last night a-marrying--to-day a-burying," said Eric, and he called to
the women to bring spades. Then, having clothed himself, he went to
the centre of the hall, and, brushing away the sand, broke the hard
clay-flooring, dealing great blows on it with an axe. Now Skallagrim,
seeing his purpose, came to him and took one of the spades, and together
they laboured in silence till they had dug a grave a fathom deep.

"Here," said Eric, "here, in thine own hall where thou wast born and
lived, Gudruda the Fair, thou shalt sleep at the last. And of Middalhof
I say this: that none shall live there henceforth. It shall be haunted
and accursed till the rafters rot and the walls fall in, making thy
barrow, Gudruda."

Now this indeed came to pass, for none have lived in Middalhof since the
days of Gudruda the Fair, Asmund's daughter. It has been ruined these
many years, and now it is but a pile of stones.

When the grave was dug, Eric washed himself and ate some food. Then he
went in to where Gudruda lay dead, and