Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/226

 2X§ CHRONICLE OF THE SAGA VII. mio-ht be excused if it were thy relation or foster- brother whom thou hadst thus sheltered ; but not at all that thou shouldst take up an Iceland man, and harbour the king's outlaw, to the injury of thyself and all thy relations." Thorberg replies, " It stands good, according to the proverb,— a rotten branch will be found in every tree. My father's greatest misfortune evidently was that he had such ill luck in producing sons that at last he produced one incapable of acting, and without any resemblance to our race, and whom in truth I never would have called brother, if it were not that it would have been to my mother's shame to have refused." Thorberg turned away in a gloomy temper, and went home. Thereafter he sent a message to his bro- ther Kalf in the Drontheim district, and begged him to meet him at Agdanaes ; and when the messengers found Kalf he promised, without more ado, to make the journey. Ragnhild sent men east to Jederen to her father Erling, and begged him to send people. Erling's sons, Sigurd and Thord, came out, each with a ship of twenty benches of rowers and ninety men. When they came north Thorberg received them joy- fully, entertained them well, and prepared for the voyage with them. Thorberg had also a vessel with twenty benches, and they steered their course north- wards. When they came to the mouth of the Dron- theim fiord Thorberg's two brothers, Finn and Arne, were there already, with two ships each of twenty benches. Thorberg met his brothers with joy, and observed that his whetstone had taken effect; and Finn replied he seldom needed sharpening for such work. Then they proceeded north with all their forces to Drontheim, and Stein was along with them. When they came to Agdanaes, Kalf Arneson was there before them ; and he also had a well-manned ship of twenty benches. With this war-force they sailed up