said: ‘I should like thee to wait while I arrange my breeches.’ ‘I grant thee that,’ said Thorkel. When he had done, he said, ‘Many things do not go as one hoped; I thought I should get into the bed of Thora, Skagi’s daughter, the jarl’s wife.’ Hákon jarl said: ‘Behead that man as quickly as thou canst; he has long had bad intentions.’ Thorkel cut him.... “Then a young man was led forward; he had much hair, yellow as silk. Thorkel asked the same. He said: ‘I have lived the finest part of my life, and such men have now lost their life a little while ago that I do not care to live; I do not want thralls to lead me to the death-blow, but one who is no less a man than thou; it is easy to get that man, and he shall take hold of my hair, and pull away my head so that my hair does not become bloody.’ A hirdman came, took the hair, and wound round his hand; Thorkel raised his sword, and intended to strike him as hard and quick as he could. He struck; but when the young man heard the sword whistling in the air, he pulled away his head strongly, and so it happened that the blow hit the man who had hold of his hair, and Thorkel cut off both his arms at the elbows. The young man jumped up, and said as a joke: ‘What fellow is owner of the hands in my hair?’ Hákon jarl said: ‘The men who are still in the rope will do us great mischief; slay him as soon as you can; he has brought a great mishap on us, and it is clear that all of them who are living ought to be slain as soon as possible, for they are too hard for us to deal with, and their bravery and hardihood have not been exaggerated.’ Eirík said to his father: ‘We want to know, father, who they are before they are all slain; what is thy name, young man?’ ‘Svein,’ answered he. ‘Whose son art thou,’ asked Eirík, ‘and what is thy kin?’ He said: ‘My father was called Búi, the stout, son of Veseti, on Borgundarhólm. I am of Danish kin.’ ‘How old art thou?’ said Eirík. ‘If I live this winter I am eighteen winters old,’ said he. Eirík said: ‘Thou shalt live this winter, if I have my will, and not be slain.’ He took him into peace, and into the company of himself and his men. When Hákon saw this, he said: ‘I do not know what thou art thinking of, as thou savest a man who has caused us so much shame and disgrace as this young man; he has done us most harm, but nevertheless I like not to take him out of thy hands, and thou shalt have thy will this time.’ Thus Eirík had his will. Hákon said to Thorkel: ‘Behead the men quickly.’ Eirík answered: ‘They shall not be beheaded before I have first spoken with them, and I want to know who each of them is.’ * * * * *