“When King Olaf’s stem-defenders saw that the Jarl had got up on the Serpent, they went aft and turned against him, and made a very hard resistance; but then so many began to fall on the Serpent, that the gunwales were in many places deserted, and the Jarl’s men boarded them; and all the men who were standing up for defence withdrew aft to where the king was. Haldór (a poet) says that the jarl urged on his men. It is said that Thorstein Uxafót was in the foreroom aft by the lypting,[162] and said to the king, when the Jarl’s men came thickest on board the Serpent: ‘Lord, each man must now do what he can?’ ‘Why not?’ answered the king. Thorstein struck with his fist one of the Jarl’s men, who jumped up on the gunwale near him; he hit his cheek so hard that he dropped out into the sea, and at once perished. After this Thorstein became so enraged, that he took up the sailyard and fought with it. When the king saw this, he said to Thorstein: ‘Take thy weapons, man, and defend thyself with them; for weapons, and not hands alone or timber, are meant for men to fight with in battle.’ Thorstein then took his sword, and fought valiantly. There was still a most fierce fight in the foreroom, and King Olaf shot from the lypting javelins or spears, both hard and often. When he saw that Eirik Jarl had come into the foreroom of the Serpent, he shot at him with three short-handled _kesjas_ (a kind of spear), but they did not go as usual (for he never missed his aim when shooting), and none of these _kesjas_ hit the Jarl. The first flew past his right side, the second his left, and the third flew on to the forepart of the ship above the Jarl’s head. Then the king said: ‘Never before did I thus miss a man; great is the Jarl’s hamingia (luck); it must be God’s will that he now shall rule in Norway; and that is not strange, for I think he has changed the _stem-dweller_ on the Bardi. I said to-day that he would not gain victory over us, if he had Thor in the stem.’ “As many of the Jarl’s men had got up on board the Serpent as could be there, and his ships lay on all sides of it, and but few remained for defence against such a host. In a short time many of King Olaf’s champions fell, though they were both strong and valiant. There fell both the king’s brothers-in-law, Hyrning and Thorgeir, Vikar of Tiundaland, Úlf the red, and many other brave men, who left a famous name behind.