It happened that a bull belonging to Karlsefni’s party ran out of the wood, and bellowed loudly: this terrified the savages, and they ran out to their canoes, and rowed south along the coast, and there was nothing more seen of them for three consecutive weeks. But when that time had elapsed they saw a great number of the boats of the savages coming from the south like a rushing torrent, and this time all the staves were waved widdershins, and all the savages yelled loudly. Upon this Karlsefni’s men took a red shield and raised it in answer. _The savages ran from their boats and_ thereupon they met and fought; there was a heavy rain of missiles; the savages had war-slings too. Karlsefni and Snorri observed that the savages raised up on a pole a _very_ large globe, _closely resembling a sheep’s paunch_ and dark in colour, and it flew _from the pole_ up on land over the party, and made a terrible noise where it came down. Upon this a great fear came on Karlsefni and his party, so that they wished for nothing but to get away up stream, _for they thought that the savages were setting upon them from all sides, nor did they halt till they came_ to some rocks where they made a determined resistance. Freydis came out, and seeing Karlsefni’s men retreating she cried out, ‘Why are such fine fellows as you running away from these unworthy men, whom I thought you could have butchered like cattle? Now if I had a weapon it seems to me that I should fight better than any of you.’ They paid no attention to what she said. Freydis wished to follow them, but was rather slow because she was not well; yet she went after them into the wood, pursued by the savages. She found before her a dead man, Thorbrand Snorreson, with a flat stone standing in his head: his sword lay beside him. This she took up, and prepared to defend herself with it. Then the savages set upon her, but she drew out her breast from beneath her clothes and beat the sword upon it: with that the savages were afraid, and running back to their ships they withdrew. Karlsefni’s men came up to her and praised her courage. Two men of Karlsefni’s force fell, but four[44] of the savages, although the former were outnumbered. So then they went back to their huts, _and bound their wounds_, and considered what that force could have been which set upon them from the land side; it now appeared to them that the attacking party consisted solely of those who came from the ships, and that the others must have been a delusion. Moreover the savages found a dead man with an axe lying beside him. _One of them took up the axe and cut at a tree, and then each of the others did so, and they thought it a treasure and that it cut well. Afterwards_ one of them cut at a stone, and the axe broke, whereupon he thought that it was useless, since it did not stand against the stone, and threw it down.