Page:The Early Kings of Norway.djvu/20

 10 EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY. Rognwald, surrounded him in liis Louse one night, and burnt him and sixty men to death there. That was the end of Eognwald, the invaluable jarl, always true to Haarfagr ; and distinguished in world history by producing Eolf the Ganger, author of the Norman Conquest of England, and Turf-Einar, who invented peat in the Orkneys. Whether Rolf had left Norway at this time there is no chronology to tell me. As to Eolf's surname, * Ganger,' there are various hypo- theses; the likeliest, perhaps, that Rolf was so weighty a man no horse (small Norwegian horses, big ponies rather) could carry him, and that he usually walked, having a mighty stride withal, and great velocity on foot. One of these murderers of Jarl Rognwald quietly set himself in Rognwald's place, the other making for Orkney to serve Turf-Einar in like fashion. Turf- Einar, taken by surprise, fled to the mainland ; but returned, days or perhaps weeks after, ready for battle, fought with Halfdan, put his party to flight, and at next morning's light searched the island and slew all the men he found. As to Halfdan Long-leg himself, in fierce memory of his own murdered father,