But it was a different story with Earl Eirik, as Olaf had said. In the forehold of his ship he had had a parapet of shields set up to protect his men; and as fast as one man fell another would come up to take his place, and there he fought desperately with every kind of weapon. So many spears and arrows were cast into the _Long Serpent_ that the shields could scarce receive them, for on all sides the vessel was surrounded by the enemy. Then King Olaf’s men grew so mad with rage that they ran on board the enemies’ ships, to get at the people with stroke of sword at close quarters, but many of them missed their footing and went overboard, and sank in the sea with the weight of their weapons. The King himself stood in the gangway shooting all day, sometimes with his bow, but more often casting two spears at once. Once, when he stooped down and stretched out his right hand, the men beside him saw that blood was running down under his steel glove, though he had told no one that he was wounded. Einar Tambaskelfer, one of the sharpest of bow-men, stood by the mast, and aimed an arrow at Earl Eirik. The arrow hit the tiller end just above the earl’s head with such force that it sank into the wood up to the shaft. The earl looked that way, and asked if they knew who made that shot, but just as he was speaking another arrow flew between his hand and his side, and fixed itself into the stuffing of his stool, so that the barb stood far out on the other side. “Shoot that tall man standing by the mast for me,” said the earl to one who stood beside him. The man shot, and the arrow hit the middle of Einar’s bow just as he was drawing it, and the bow split into two parts. “What is that,” cried King Olaf, “that broke with such a noise?” “Norway, King, from thy hands,” said Einar. Not long after this the fight became so fierce that it seemed as though none of Olaf’s men would be left alive. Twice Earl Eirik boarded the _Long Serpent_, and twice he was driven off again, but so many of the fighting-men fell that in many places the ships’ sides were quite bare of defenders. At length Earl Eirik with his men boarded her again, and filled the ship from stem to stern with his own host, so that Olaf saw that all was lost. Then Olaf and his marshal sprang together overboard; but the earl’s men had laid boats around the dragon ship, to kill all who fell overboard. They tried to seize Olaf alive to bring him to Earl Eirik; but King Olaf threw his shield over his head and sank beneath the waters. Many tales were told of the King, for none would believe that he was dead. Some said that he had cast off his coat of mail beneath the water and had swum, diving under the long ships, and so had escaped; only one thing is certain, that he never came back to Norway or to his kingdom again. The poet Halfred speaks thus about him:--