throat. Then Aumond of Witchwood smote him on the head
with his axe, and Sam gave a howl which was not the utterance of any
mortal dog, and rolled over.

[Illustration: GUNNAR'S LAST FIGHT & HALLGERDA'S REVENGE]

Gunnar, who was sleeping in the narrow space above his great wooden
hall, heard the awful sound, and said to himself: 'So they have killed
thee, Sam, my fosterling. Well, I will follow thee soon;' and, taking
his bill in his hand, he went up into the roof of the hall, where among
the beams were little slits for windows. In the winter there were
shutters fastened over these little slits, but now they were left open.

From the beam on which he was crouching Gunnar saw a red tunic slipping
by the window, and he thrust swiftly out his bill. In a moment a man's
body fell upon the ground below.

'Well, is Gunnar at home?' said Gizur, and Thorgrim the Easterling
answered: 'Go and see for yourselves; but if Gunnar is not at home, his
bill is,' and those were his last words, for the thrust had been mortal.

It hardly seemed possible that one man could keep such a force at bay,
but wherever they went Gunnar's arrows followed them. Three times they
came on, and three times they fell back, and Gunnar's heart beat high,
for he thought that perchance their courage might fail, and that they
would return whither they had come.

'One of their own arrows sticks outside the window,' he said, laughing
loud in his glee; 'I will send it to kill its master.' But his mother
answered: 'It is ill to waken a sleeping dog, my son.'

Her words were wise, but Gunnar would not listen to them. He shot the
arrow into the midst of the men gathered beneath him, and knew not that
it had dealt a death-blow, or that Gizur the white had been watching its
course.

'The arm that drew in that shaft had a ring on it--a gold ring such as
Gunnar wears,' said he, 'and if they had not shot away their own arrows
they would not be needing ours;' and with that he urged them to make a
fresh attack.

'Let us set the house on fire,' said Mord, but Gizur answered him hotly,
and bade him find out some other plan.

Now Mord was a man of many thoughts, and great skill in planning, so he
looked about him to see if there was aught else he could do. Lying near
were some ropes, and as soon as he saw them he cried out, 'If we can
twist one end of the ropes round the beams, and the other round this
rock, we can twist them tight, and pull the roof off the hall.'