178 Norivay and the Norwegians 



vikings were sailing northward along the same western 

 coast, plundering and burning wherever they came. 



Those who are familiar with the Norwegian coast, 

 and know how all along it headlands and rocky islands 

 succeed each other in bewildering confusion, will 

 appreciate this picture of the two fleets approaching 

 each other, and yet each having no idea of the other's 

 whereabouts. The place where they did at last meet, 

 the scene of the battle which the Saga describes so 

 vividly, is the Jorund Fjord, in South More, perhaps 

 the finest of the Norwegian fjords. The steamers from 

 Hellesylt to Aalesund pass the mouth of it. 



As might be imagined, the Norse leaders were best 

 served by their spies and look-outs. One man came in 

 a swift-rowing vessel north to the earls, and told them 

 of the approaching danger, showing the stump where 

 his hand had been cut off as a proof that he had met 

 the Jomsburgers. The Norse peasants, on the other 

 hand, would give no information to the Vikings. At 

 last one old man, seeing them driving down cattle and 

 captives, asked Sigvald and his comrades why they 

 attacked cattle instead of surprising the bear himself in 

 his lair, assuring them that Hakon was close to with 

 only a few ships. In reality Hakon and Erik were 

 hard by, with a hundred and eighty ships in all. 



The Joms-vikings had just one-third that number, 

 but when the battle was joined they fought with 

 desperate courage. There are some strange and pictur- 

 esque details of this battle and its sequel given us in 

 the Saga. One of the Joms chiefs, Bui by name, who 

 had fought all day, and cleared more than one ship 

 of the Norsemen, found himself at last overpowered, 



