There was much talk about what had been done; every one told what he had
seen. Then they talked of who had been the first to board, but were not
all of one opinion. Some said it would not be creditable to them if they
did not all relate this great exploit in the same way. At last they all
agreed to let Earl Rögnvald decide, and every one should afterwards tell
the story in the same way as he did. Then the Earl sang:
Audun Raudi was the man who
First, with energy and valour,
Scaled the black sides of the Drómund;
Soon the brave one seized his booty.
By the help of God’s good favour
Have we overcome the heathen;
Steeped our swords are all in red blood;
Round us lie the sable corpses.
When they had cleared the Drómund, they set it on fire. When the big man
whom they had taken prisoner saw this, he changed colour and became
pale, and could not keep himself still. But though they tried to make
him speak, he did not say a word, neither did he make any kind of sign;
he was immovable to fair promises and menaces alike. But when the
Drómund began to blaze up, they saw a glowing stream, as it were, run
into the sea. At this the captive man was greatly moved. They concluded
that they had not made a careful search for the money, and now the
metal, whether gold or silver, had melted in the fire.
Then Earl Rögnvald and his men sailed south, under Serkland, and lay off
a certain town of Serkland, and had seven nights’ truce with the men of
the town, and sold them silver and other valuables. No one would buy the
big man; and then the Earl gave him leave to go away with four men. He
came back on the morning after, with his men, and told them that he was
a nobleman of Serkland, and that he had been ransomed from there with
the Drómund and all its contents. “It grieved me most,” he said, “that
you should burn it, and thus destroy so much treasure, without any one’s
having the benefit of it. Now you are in my power, but it counts for
your benefit with me that you spared my life, and did me such honour as
you could. But I would gladly never see you again, and now may you live
hale and well.” Then he rode away into the country.
Earl Rögnvald sailed to Crete, and anchored in a strong gale. When Armod
kept watch during the night, he sang:
Lie we now, where stormy billows
Break above the sturdy bulwarks;
My lot is to keep the watch well,
On this wave-surmounting seahorse;
While the lads are snugly sleeping,
I, to Crete, look o’er my shoulder.
They lay off Crete until they had fair wind to Jórsalir (Jerusalem), and
arrived early on a Friday morning at Akursborg (Acre). They went on
shore with great pomp and splendour, such as seldom had been seen there.
Thorbiörn Svarti sang:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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