184 MODE OF NAVAL WARFARE OF THE NORTHMEX. 



were cut it drifted backward between the others. The king's 

 men then attacked the ship of Onund ; he was in the fore 

 part of the ship, and fought bravely. The king's men said : 

 ' That man fights hard in the stem ; let us give him some mark 

 in memory of his having been in tlie battle.' Onund was 

 standing with one of his feet on the side of the ship, and as he 

 dealt a man a blow a spear was thrust at him ; as he parried the 

 blow he bent backwards, when one of the king's stem-defenders 

 cut off his leg below the knee, after which he could fight no 

 more. The greater part of the men on his ship fell. Onund 

 was carried on board the ship of Thrand, the son of Bjorn and 

 brother of Eyvind Eastman ; he was against King Harald, and 

 lay on one side of Onund's ship. After this the main fleet 

 broke into flight. Thrand, and the other Vikings who were 

 able to, got away and sailed westward. Onund, as well as 

 Balki and Hallvard Siigandi (gush of wind), went with him. 

 When he was healed he afterwards walked with a wooden leg; 

 from this he was called Onund tree-foot while he lived " 

 (Gretti's Saga, c. 2). 



We see that at that period expeditions to and from the 

 west were common. 



The battle at the river Helga (Sweden) is thus described : 



" One evening the spies of Onund saw Knut sailing not far 

 off. Onund let a war blast be blown. His men took down 

 their tents, armed themselves, and rowed out of the harbour 

 (at the mouth of the river) and eastwards along the coast ; they 

 laid their ships side by side and tied them together, and made 

 ready for battle. Onund sent spies ashore to tell Olaf, who 

 had the dani broken and let the river into its bed. He then 

 went down to his ships in the night. When Knut came off the 

 harbour, he saw the host of the kings ready for battle. It seemed 

 to him it would be too late in the day to begin a battle, as the 

 whole of his host was not ready. His fleet needed much space 

 for sailing, and there was a long way between his foremost and 

 hindmost ship, and the outermost and the one next to the land. 

 There was little wind. When he saw the Swedes and Northmen 

 had left the harbour, he went in with such ships as could get 

 room there, but the greater part of his host lay out on the sea 

 (outside the harbour;. Next morning, when it was almost 

 day, many of their men were on land, some talking, others at 

 their games. They suspected nothing until the water rushed 

 down upon them like a torrent ; large timbers followed, and 

 were driven against their ships ; these were damaged, and the 

 water flowed all over the fields ; the men on land, and also 



