"That I cannot do," says Hallbjorn; "thou wilt strive to kill my brother for all that, and it is a shame if I sit idly by." And as he said this he thrust at Gunnar with a great spear which he held in both hands. Gunnar threw his shield before the blow, but Hallbjorn pierced the shield through. Gunnar thrust the shield down so hard that it stood fast in the earth (1), but he brandished his sword so quickly that no eye could follow it, and he made a blow with the sword, and it fell on Hallbjorn's arm above the wrist, so that it cut it off. Skamkell ran behind Gunnar's back and makes a blow at him with a great axe. Gunnar turned short round upon him and parries the blow with the bill, and caught the axe under one of its horns with such a wrench that it flew out of Skamkell's hand away into the river. Then Gunnar sang a song: "Once thou askedst, foolish fellow, Of this man, this seahorse racer, When as fast as feet could foot it Forth ye fled from farm of mine, Whether that were rightly summoned? Now with gore the spear we redden, Battle-eager, and avenge us Thus on thee, vile source of strife." Gunnar gives another thrust with his bill, and through Skamkell, and lifts him up and casts him down in the muddy path on his head. Audulf the Easterling snatches up a spear and launches it at Gunnar. Gunnar caught the spear with his hand in the air, and hurled it back at once, and it flew through the shield and the Easterling too, and so down into the earth. Otkell smites at Gunnar with his sword, and aims at his leg just below the knee, but Gunnar leapt up into the air and he misses him. Then Gunnar thrusts at him the bill and the blow goes through him. Then Kolskegg comes up, and rushes at once at Hallkell and dealt him his death-blow with his short sword. There and then they slay eight men. A woman who saw all this, ran home and told Mord, and besought him to part them. "They alone will be there," he says, "of whom I care not though they slay one another." "Thou canst not mean to say that," she says, "for thy kinsman Gunnar, and thy friend Otkell will be there." "Baggage, that thou art," he says, "thou art always chattering," and so he lay still in-doors while they fought. Gunnar and Kolskegg rode home after this work, and they rode hard up along the river bank, and Gunnar leapt off his horse and came down on his feet. Then Kolskegg said, "Hard now thou ridest, brother!" "Ay," said Gunnar, "that was what Skamkell said when he uttered those very words when they rode over me." "Well, thou hast avenged that now," says Kolskegg. "I would like to know," says Gunnar, "whether I am by so much the less brisk and bold than other men, because I think more of killing men than they?" ENDNOTES: (1) This shews that the shields were oblong, running down to a point. 55. NJAL'S ADVICE TO GUNNAR