Gunnar, "so that I have a good ground on my
side."

"So will it be too," says Njal, "if thou hast not to smart for others."

Njal asked Gunnar if he would ride to the Thing. Gunnar said he was
going to ride thither, and asks Njal whether he were going to ride; but
he said he would not ride thither, "and if I had my will thou wouldst do
the like".

Gunnar rode home, and gave Njal good gifts, and thanked him for the care
he had taken of his goods, Kolskegg urged him on much to ride to the
Thing, saying, "There thy honour will grow, for many will flock to see
thee there".

"That has been little to my mind," says Gunnar, "to make a show of
myself; but I think it good and right to meet good and worthy men."

Hallvard by this time was also come thither, and offered to ride to the
Thing with them.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

GUNNAR'S WOOING.

So Gunnar rode, and they all rode. But when they came to the Thing they
were so well arrayed that none could match them in bravery; and men came
out of every booth to wonder at them. Gunnar rode to the booths of the
men of Rangriver, and was there with his kinsmen. Many men came to see
Gunnar, and ask tidings of him; and he was easy and merry to all men,
and told them all they wished to hear.

It happened one day that Gunnar went away from the Hill of Laws, and
passed by the booths of the men from Mossfell; then he saw a woman
coming to meet him, and she was in goodly attire; but when they met she
spoke to Gunnar at once. He took her greeting well, and asks what woman
she might be. She told him her name was Hallgerda, and said she was
Hauskuld's daughter, Dalakoll's son. She spoke up boldly to him, and
bade him tell her of his voyages; but he said he would not gainsay her a
talk. Then they sat them down and talked. She was so clad that she had
on a red kirtle, and had thrown over her a scarlet cloak trimmed with
needlework down to the waist. Her hair came down to her bosom, and was
both fair and full. Gunnar was clad in the scarlet clothes which King
Harold Gorm's son had given him; he had also the gold ring on his arm
which Earl Hacon had given him.

So they talked long out loud, and at last it came about that he asked
whether she were unmarried. She said, so it was, "and there are not many
who would run the risk of that".

"Thinkest thou none good enough for thee?"

"Not that," she says, "but I am said to be hard to please in husbands."

"How wouldst thou answer were I t