Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/337

 KINGS OF NORWAY. 329 " Thundered the ground beneath their tread, saga vir. As, iron-clad, thick-tramping, sped The men-at-arms, in row and rank, Past Stiklestad's sweet grassy bank. The clank of steel, the bowstrings' twang, The sounds of battle, loudly rang; And bowmen hurried on advancing, Their bright helms in the sunshine glancing." The lendermen urged their men, and forced them to advance. Sigvat speaks of this : — " Midst in their line their banner flies, Thither the stoutest bonder hies : But many a bonder thinks of home, And many wish they ne'er had come." Then the bonder-army pushed on from all quarters. They who stood in front hewed down with their swords ; they who stood next thrust with their spears ; and they who stood hindmost shot arrows, cast spears, or threw stones, hand-axes, or sharp stakes. Soon there was a great fall of men in the battle. Many were down on both sides. In the first onset fell Arnliot Gallina, Gauka Thorer, and Afarfaste, with all their men, after each had killed a man or two, and some indeed more. Now the ranks in front of the king's banner began to be thinned, and the king ordered Thord to carry the banner forward, and the king himself followed it with the troop he had chosen to stand nearest to him in battle ; and these were the best armed men in the field, and the most expert in the use of their weapons. Sigvat the scald tells of this : — " Loud was the battle-storm there, Where the king's banner flamed in air. The king beneath his banner stands, And there the battle he commands." Olaf came forth from behind the shield-bulwark, and put himself at the head of the array ; and when the bonders looked him in the face they were fright- ened, and let their hands drop. So says Sigvat : —