Next morning they took a barge and filled it with malt; then they went on board and ranged the shields which had belonged to Earl Rögnvald and his men along the bulwarks, neither had they more men in the barge than Rögnvald had had. So they rowed to Kirkiuvag (Kirkwall); and when those of Rögnvald’s men who were there saw the vessel they thought it was Earl Rögnvald and his men returning, and they went unarmed to meet them. Thorfinn seized thirty of them and slew them; most of them were henchmen and friends of King Magnus. To one of the King’s henchmen the Earl gave quarter, and told him to go east to Norway and tell King Magnus the tidings. CHAPTER XIX EARL RÖGNVALD’S BURIAL. THE body of Earl Rögnvald was brought to the larger Papey[271] and buried there. Men said that he was one of the most accomplished and best-beloved of all the Earls of the Orkneys; and his death was greatly lamented by all the people. After this Earl Thorfinn took possession of the whole of the Islands, and no one spoke against him. Early in the spring these tidings came east to Norway to King Magnus. He regarded the death of Rögnvald, his foster-brother, as a great loss, and said he would avenge him by and by, but just then he was at war with King Swein, Ulf’s son.[272] CHAPTER XX EARL THORFINN COMES TO KING HARALD. ABOUT this time King Harald, Sigurd’s son,[273] King Magnus’s uncle, arrived in Norway, and King Magnus gave him the half of the kingdom. One winter they called out men from the whole of Norway, intending to go south to Denmark, but while they lay in Seley[274] two war ships rowed into the harbour and up to King Magnus’s ship. A man in a white cloak went from the [strange] ship, and along the [King’s] ship, and up to the quarterdeck. The King sat at meat; the man saluted him, and taking up a loaf he broke it and ate of it. The King received his salutation, and handed the cup to him when he saw that he ate the bread. The King looked at him and said: “Who is this man?” “My name is Thorfinn,” he said. “Art thou Earl Thorfinn?” said the King. “So am I called in the west,” he said, “and I am here with two ships of twenty benches, well manned considering our means, and I wish now to join in this expedition with you, if you will accept my assistance; all my men and I myself are in God’s power and yours, my lord, on account of my great misdeeds by which I have offended you.” In the meantime some men gathered together and listened to their conversation. “It is true, Earl Thorfinn” (said the King), “that I intended, in case we should meet, that you should not have to tell of our parting, but now matters stand so that it does not become my dignity to have you slain, and you shall go with me now, but the terms of our reconciliation I will declare when I am more at leisure.”