The Sea Fight

Many men felt as Solfi did. So when King Audbiorn and King Arnvid sent

out their war arrows, a great host gathered. All men came by sea. Two

hundred ships lay at anchor in the fiord, looking like strange swimming

animals because of their high carved prows and bright paint. There were

red and gold dragons with long necks and curved tails. Sea-horses reared

out of the water. Green and gold snakes coiled up. Sea-hawks sat with

spread wings ready to fly. And among all these curved necks stood up the

tall, straight masts with the long yardarms swinging across them holding

the looped-up sails.

When the starting horn blew, and their sails were let down, it was like

the spreading of hundreds of curious flags. Some were striped black and

yellow or blue and gold. Some were white with a black raven or a brown

bear embroidered on them, or blue with a white sea-hawk, or black with

a gold sun. Some were edged with fur. As the wind filled the gaudy

sails, and the ships moved off, the men waved their hands to the women

on shore and sang:

"To the sea! To the sea!

The wind in our sail,

The sea in our face,

And the smell of the fight.

After ship meets ship,

In the quarrel of swords

King Harald shall lie

In the caves under sea

And Norsemen shall laugh."

In the prow stood men leaning forward and sniffing the salt air with

joy. Some were talking of King Harald.

"Yesterday he had a hard fight," they said. "To-day he will be lying

still, dressing his wounds and mending his ships. We shall take him by

surprise."

They sailed near the coast. Solfi in his "Sea-hawk" was ahead leading

the way. Suddenly men saw his sail veer and his oars flash out. He had

quickly turned his boat and was rowing back. He came close to King

Arnvid and called:

"He is there, ahead. His boats are ready in line of battle. The fox has

not been asleep."

King Arnvid blew his horn. Slowly his boats came into line with his

"Sea-stag" in the middle. Again he blew his horn. Cables were thrown

across from one prow to the next, and all the ships were tied together

so that their sides touched. Then the men set their sails again and they

went past a tongue of land into a broad fiord. There lay the long line

of King Harald's ships with their fierce heads grinning and mocking at

the newcomers. Back of those prows was what looked like a long wall with

spots of green and red and blue and yellow and shining gold. It was the

locked shields of the men in the bows, and over every shield looked

fierce blue eyes. Higher up and farther back was another wall of

shields; for on the half deck in the stern of every ship stood the

captain with his shield-guard of a dozen men.

Arnvid's people had furled their sails and were taking down the masts,

but the ships were still drifting on with the wind. The horn blew, and

quickly every man sprang to his place in bow and stern. All were leaning

forward with clenched teeth and widespread nostrils. They were clutching

their naked swords in their hands. Their flashing eyes looked over their

shields.

Soon King Arnvid's ships crashed into Harald's line, and immediately the

men in the bows began to swing their swords at one another. The soldiers

of the shield-guard on the high decks began to throw darts and stones

and to shoot arrows into the ships opposite them.

So in every ship showers of stones and arrows were falling, and many men

died under them or got broken arms or legs. Spears were hurled from deck

to deck and many of them bit deep into men's bodies. In every bow men

slashed with their swords at the foes in the opposite ship. Some jumped

upon the gunwale to get nearer or hung from the prow-head. Some even

leaped into the enemy's boat.

King Harald's ship lay prow to prow with King Arnvid's. The battle had

been going on for an hour. King Harald was still in the stern on the

deck. There was a dent in his helmet where a great stone had struck.

There was a gash in his shoulder where a spear had cut. But he was still

fighting and laughed as he worked.

"Wolf meets wolf to-day," he said. "But things are going badly in the

prow," he cried. "Ivar fallen, Thorstein wounded, a dozen men lying in

the bottom of the boat!"

He leaped down from the deck and ran along the gunwale, shouting as he

went:

"Harald and victory!"

So he came to the bow and stood swinging his sword as fast as he

breathed. Every time it hit a man of Arnvid's men. Harald's own warriors

cheered, seeing him.

"Harald and victory!" they shouted, and went to work again with good

heart.

Slowly King Arnvid's men fell back before Harald's biting sword. Then

Harald's men threw a great hook into that boat and pulled it alongside

and still pushed King Arnvid's people back.

"Come on! Follow me!" cried Harald.

Then he leaped into King Arnvid's boat, and his warriors followed him.

"He comes like a mad wolf," King Arnvid's men said, and they turned and

ran back below the deck.

Then Arnvid himself leaped down and stood with his sword raised.

"Can this young Shockhead make cowards of you all?" he cried.

But Harald's sword struck him, and he fell dead. Then a big, bloody

viking of King Arnvid leaped upon the edge of the ship and stood there.

He held his drinking-horn and his sword high in his hands.

"Ran and not you, Shockhead, shall have them and me!" he cried, and

leaped laughing into the water and was drowned.

Many other warriors chose the same death on that terrible day.

All along the line of boats men fought for hours. In some places the

cables had been cut, and the boats had drifted apart. Ships lay

scattered about two by two, fighting. May boats sank, many men died,

some fled away in their ships, and at the end King Harald had won the

battle. So he had King Arnvid's country and King Audbiorn's country.

Many men took the oath and became his friends. All people were talking

of his wonderful battles.