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Updated: May 9, 2025
I can explain that" cried Alric, with an arch smile; "Erling made me change the baton for the split arrow when I was sent round with the token." "That is good luck," said Haldor, while Ulf's brow cleared a little as he busked himself for the fight; "we shall need all our force."
As both were arrayed much in the same way, it will be sufficient to describe the arrangements made by Haldor the Fierce, who had been elected commander-in-chief of the small kings' fleet. When Haldor saw the King's banner displayed, he unfurled his own in the centre of the fleet, and arranged his force for attack right against it.
It is needless to say that all were armed to the teeth with coats of mail and shirts of wolf-skin; swords and battle-axes, bows and arrows, halberds and spears, "morning stars" and bills, scythes, javelins, iron-shod poles and many other weapons. The principal ships of the fleet were of course those belonging to Haldor, Ulf, and the wealthier men of the district.
By this time the hay was all cut, and that portion which was sufficiently dry piled up, so Ulf and Haldor left the work to be finished by the younger hands, and stood together in the centre of the field chatting and looking on. Little change had taken place in the personal appearance of Ulf of Romsdal since the occasion of that memorable duel related in the first chapter of our story.
"Well cast, well cast!" cried Haldor, while a murmur of applause rose from the throng of labourers who had been instantly attracted to the spot. "Come, I will try my own hand against thee." Haldor advanced, and, lifting the stone, balanced it for a few moments in his right hand, then, with a graceful motion and an apparently slight effort, hurled it forward. It fell a foot beyond Kettle's mark.
Alric's wife, a daughter of Glumm, was with the young people on the lawn, and his six riotous children were among the chief tormentors of old Haldor. Ingeborg was there too, sharp as ever, but not quite so sour. She was not a spinster. There were few spinsters in those days! She had married a man of the neighbouring valley, whom she loved to distraction, and whom she led the life of a dog!
But the greater part of both fleets being tied together, could take no part in the chase until they were cut asunder. "The day is lost, father," said Erling, as he stood by the steering oar. "I know it, my son," replied Haldor, who was now able to sit up and look about him; "Norway is henceforth enthralled." He said this in a tone of such deep sadness that Erling forbore to continue the subject.
There, sometimes conversing gravely with a silver-haired old man at his side, or stooping with a quiet smile to caress the head of a child that had rushed from its playmates for a little to be fondled by the "old one" sat Haldor the Fierce, with Christian the hermit on one side, and Ulf of Romsdal on the other.
By this time they were drawing near the bay at Ulfstede, and Erling urged on the rowers, for they could see that Harald's ships were now cast loose, and giving chase to those that endeavoured to escape, while several of the largest, including the Dragon, made direct for the land. "Our whole effort now," said Haldor, "must be to rescue the women." "That will not be easy," observed Ulf gloomily.
With four such men as Haldor, Erling, Ulf and Glumm in front, the left wing soon regained its lost ground and drove back the Danes. Nothing could withstand the shock. Skarpedin saw what had occurred, and immediately hastened to the spot where Haldor stood, sweeping down all who stood in his way. "I have been searching for thee, Erling," he cried, going up to Haldor, and launching a javelin.
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