A last attempt to recover what he had lost was made by Magnus in the summer of 1184. He then sailed northward to Bergen with a fleet of twenty-six ships and about three thousand two hundred men. He learned that Sverre had sailed up into the Norefjord (a narrow arm of the Sognefjord) with a few ships and a small force of men, for the purpose of punishing the Sognings, who had killed his prefect, Ivar Darre. Sverre was, as a rule, not easily surprised. But in the present instance he had not the faintest suspicion of danger until he saw the galleys of the Heklungs steering right down upon him. Escape was not to be thought of. He was shut in on all sides. The Heklungs, seeing that he had but fourteen ships, and that his force scarcely numbered more than half of theirs, were disposed to give thanks to God for having at last delivered their enemies into their hands. But it is sometimes a doubtful blessing to have such enemies as the Birchlegs delivered into one's hands. At all events, Magnus began to have doubts, as soon as battle had commenced, as to who were the captors and who the captives. The Birchlegs fought with heroism, and the Heklungs fell in great numbers and many leaped into the sea. Among the latter was King Magnus. It was midnight before the bloody work was at an end, and by that time two thousand men had lost their lives. All the ships of the Heklungs and much booty fell into Sverre's hands. When the morning broke there could be seen through the clear waters of the Sognefjord the corpses of slain chieftains lying outstretched on the bottom, while the fishes swam around them. The corpse of King Magnus was not found until two days after the battle, and was then taken to Bergen, where it was buried with great solemnity. In the battle of Norefjord fell, beside the king, the flower of the Norse aristocracy. King Inge's son Harold, Orm King's-Brother and his son Ivar Steig, and a large number of proud chieftains, were among the slain. They had pinned their hope to King Magnus, and with his death their dominion was at an end. With Sverre Sigurdsson's reign begins a new epoch in the history of Norway. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XXIV. SVERRE SIGURDSSON (1182-1202).