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"By the hammer of Thor!" growled the black-bearded captain, whose temper was ever of the shortest, "these men splash like cattle." One by one they stepped ashore, and then the party was divided. One man was left in charge of the boat; Ketill with three others went round to where the long ships lay; while Estein, Helgi, and Grim, with six picked men, cautiously approached the hall.
It was even so. The lawman had gone to his last account, his bolt impotently shot, and his enemies standing triumphantly over him. "He at least died well," said Helgi; "when my turn comes may it be my luck to look as proudly on my foes. But tell us, Ketill, what befell you here since our parting."
He had with him Helgi, Ketill, and a picked force; and as he stood on deck and watched the towering precipices slip by, and the white clouds drift over their rough rim of pines, his heart beat high. The message of the Runes was ringing in his mind, and the spirit of roving and adventure boiling up again.
They offered him there such station as he would like to take, and Ketill and his company of kinsfolk settled down there all except Thorstein, his daughter's son, who forthwith betook himself to warring, and harried Scotland far and wide, and was always victorious. Later on he made peace with the Scotch, and got for his own one-half of Scotland.
Fire, sword, or water choose what you will, you will always find me by your side; and if you must go to Valhalla, why, I will blithely bear you company." "Fire were better," said Ketill, shaking his head.
"Are you possessed of evil spirits, that you would quarrel on the eve of battle? Remember, Ketill, that Estein is your prince; and Estein, my brother, what ails you? You are under a spell indeed. Would that I had slain the witch ere you parted. You can gain nothing by wrecking the ship, and this fog is too dense to row a race off such a coast as this."
As he spoke a tongue of flame shot up from one of the long ships, and Estein turned to him in surprise. "Then you set them on fire?" "Ay," replied Ketill; "we slew some guards who thereby learned not to sleep at their posts and made such holes in the ships as will take them two days to patch.
Spare not, Estein; fire and sword in England, sword and fire in Valland!" The group had broken up, and Estein was about to go on board when he heard himself hailed by name. He looked round, and saw the same old man who had accosted Ketill coming down the pier after him. "Hail, Estein Hakonson!" he cried; "I have come far to see thee."
Helgi told him briefly how he had swum ashore to another island, and there been picked up by Ketill, the black-bearded captain of one of Estein's scattered ships; how, giving up all hope, they had sailed for the south, and after meeting head winds and little luck, returned to the Orkneys, where, from a man who had been with Margad, news of the stranger on the Holy Isle had reached their ears.
In vain Helgi went amongst them, and urged that Grim knew these waters so well that there was little danger, in vain he pointed to the hope of booty and revenge ahead; even as he spoke there was a momentary break in the mist, and they saw the towering cliff so close above them that his words were wasted. "There is witchcraft here," they said; and Ketill was as obstinate as the rest.
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