ULF THE RED. 
353 
“ Strike the sails! I never fled from battle: let God 
dispose of my life, but flight I will never take!” He 
then orders the war-horns to sound, for all his ships to 
close up to each other. “ Then,” says Ulf the Bed, 
Captain of the forecastle, “ if the £ Long Serpent ’ is 
to lie so much ahead of the other vessels, we shall 
have hot work of it here on the forecastle.” 
The King replies, “ I did not think I had a fore¬ 
castle man afraid , as well as red .” 1 
Says Ulf, “ Defend thou the quarter-deck, as I 
shall the forecastle.” 
The King had a bow in his hands ; he laid an 
arrow on the string, and made as if he aimed at 
Ulf. 
Ulf said, “ Shoot another way, King, where it is 
more needful,—my work is thy gain.” 
Then the King asks, “Who is the chief of the 
force right opposite to us?” He is answered, “ Svend 
of Denmark, with his army.” 
Olat replies, “We are not afraid of these soft 
Danes ! Who are the troops on the right ?” 
1 There is a play on these two words in the Icelandic, “ ftaudan 
oc Ruyan.” 
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