n Mord said, "Now may ye see that Hallgerda must have stolen the
cheese"; and they all passed the same judgment; and then Mord said, that
now he thought he was free of this matter.

After that they parted.

Shortly after Kolskegg fell to talking with Gunnar, and said--

"Ill is it to tell, but the story is in every man's mouth, that
Hallgerda must have stolen, and that she was at the bottom of all that
great scathe that befell at Kirkby."

Gunnar said that he too thought that must be so. "But what is to be done
now?"

Kolskegg answered, "That wilt think it thy most bounden duty to make
atonement for thy wife's wrong, and methinks it were best that thou
farest to see Otkell, and makest him a handsome offer."

"This is well spoken," says Gunnar, "and so it shall be."

A little after Gunnar sent after Thrain Sigfus' son, and Lambi Sigurd's
son, and they came at once.

Gunnar told them whither he meant to go, and they were well pleased.
Gunnar rode with eleven men to Kirkby, and called Otkell out. Skamkell
was there too, and said, "I will go out with thee, and it will be best
now to have the balance of wit on thy side. And I would wish to stand
closest by thee when thou needest it most, and now this will be put to
the proof. Methinks it were best that thou puttest on an air of great
weight."

Then they, Otkell and Skamkell, and Hallkell and Hallbjorn, went out all
of them.

They greeted Gunnar, and he took their greeting well. Otkell asks
whither he meant to go?

"No farther than here," says Gunnar, "and my errand hither is to tell
thee about that bad mishap--how it arose from the plotting of my wife
and that thrall whom I bought from thee."

"'Tis only what was to be looked for," says Hallbjorn.

"Now I will make thee a good offer," says Gunnar, "and the offer is
this, that the best men here in the country round settle the matter."

"This is a fair-sounding offer," said Skamkell, "but an unfair and
uneven one. Thou art a man who has many friends among the householders,
but Otkell has not many friends."

"Well," says Gunnar, "then I will offer thee that I shall make an award,
and utter it here on this spot, and so we will settle the matter, and my
good-will shall follow the settlement. But I will make thee an atonement
by paying twice the worth of what was lost."

"This choice shalt thou not take," said Skamkell; "and it is unworthy to
give up to him the right to make his own award, when thou oughtest to