196 



SEA BATTLES. 



within shooting distance of the Northmen, and shot at them 

 incessantly. The Jarl again laid the Bardi side by side with 

 the Serpent, and made a very sharp onslaught with fresh men ; 

 neither did he spare himself in the battle, nor those of his 

 men who were left. 



" Kin<r Olaf and his men defended themselves with thr 

 utmost bravery and manliness, so that there was little increase 

 in the fall of men on the Serpent while they were fresh ; they 

 slew many of their foes, both on the Jarnbardi and on other 

 ships which lay near the Serpent. As the fight still went 

 against Eirik Jarl, he hoisted large timbeis on the Bardi, 

 which fell 011 the Serpent. It is believed that the Serpent 

 would not have been won but for this, which had been advised 

 by Thorkel the high. 



" The Serpent began to lean over very much when the large 

 timbers were dropped on one gunwale, and .thereupon many 

 fell on both sides. When the defenders of the Serpent began 

 to thin, Eirik boarded it and met with a warm reception. 



" When King Olaf's stem-defenders saw that the Jarl had 

 got up on the Serpent, they went aft and turned against him, 

 and made a very hard resistance ; but then so many began to 

 fall on the Serpent, that the gunwales were in many places 

 deserted, and the Jaii's men boarded them; and all the men 

 who were standing up for defence withdrew aft to where the 

 king was. Haldor (a poet) says that the jarl urged on his men. 



" It is said that Thorstein Uxatot was in the foreroom aft by 

 the lypting, 1 and said to the king, when the Jaii's men came 

 thickest on board the Serpent : ' Lord, each man must now do 

 what he can ? ' ' Why not ? ' answered the king. Thorstein 

 struck with his fist one of the Jaii's men, who jumped up on the 

 gunwale near him ; he hit his cheek so hard that he dropped 

 out into the sea, and at once perished. After this Thorstein 

 became so enraged, that he took up the sailyard and fought 

 with it. When the king saw this, he said to Thorstein : ' Take 

 thy weapons, man, and defend thyself with them ; for weapons, 

 and not hands alone or timber, are meant for men to fight with 

 in battle.' Thorstein then took his sword, and fought valiantly. 

 There was still a most fierce fight in the foreroom, and King 

 Olaf shot from the lypting javelins or spears, both hard and 

 often. When he saw that Eirik Jarl had come into the fore- 

 rcx mi of the Serpent, he shot at him with three short-handled 

 kesj'is (a kind of spear), but they did not go as usuai (for he 

 never missed his aim when shooting), and none of these kesjas 



1 As a rule the foreroom (fyrirnim) 

 seems to have been before the mast, but 

 on the Long Serpeut this was not the 



case, as we can see from the above 

 sentence, for there it was immediately 

 in front of the lyptiny (poop). 



