Then these four—Earl Rögnvald, his father Kol, the Bishop, and Swein, Asleif’s son—had a private interview. Swein repeated everything, good and bad, that had happened between him and Earl Paul, and they came to the conclusion to send away the bulk of the people at the meeting. The Earl arose next morning and gave the people permission to go home; but when the multitude had gone away, he called together all those that remained, and made them all renew their promise of security to Swein, while he told the news. In the morning, Magnus[348] Karl, the brother of the Holy Earl Magnus, was persuaded to tell Sigurd of Westness and his sons of Earl Paul’s abduction, that he was not to be expected back to his dominions, and that he had been maimed. Sigurd said: “Great news do I think this, about the carrying away of the Earl; yet to me the saddest of all is that he should have been maimed, for he would not be anywhere where I would not go to him.” Afterwards he told his friends that Hákon would not have left him unharmed, if he had had a sufficient force with him when he told him these tidings, so greatly was he moved by them. When the news became generally known, all the Orkneymen submitted to Earl Rögnvald, and he became the sole ruler of Earl Paul’s dominions. Not long after this the foundations of St. Magnus’ Church[349] were marked out, and craftsmen procured, so that more was done during that year than in the ensuing four or five. Kol took great interest in the erection of the building, and had the principal oversight of the whole; but as it proceeded, it became very expensive to the Earl, and his means were nearly exhausted. Then he consulted his father, and he advised him to pass a law declaring that the Earls should be considered to have inherited all the odal possessions from the owners, but that they were to be redeemable by the heirs.[350] This was considered a great hardship. Then Earl Rögnvald called a Thing meeting, and proposed to the Bœndr that they should purchase the odal possessions, so that it would not be necessary to redeem them afterwards, and an agreement was made with which all parties were satisfied. It was to this effect, that they should pay the Earl one mark (eight oz. of silver) for each plough’s land all over the Islands. From that time there was no want of money to build the church; and it was made a magnificent structure. CHAPTER LXXI BISHOP JÓN ARRIVES FROM SCOTLAND.