Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 3.djvu/74

 62 CHRONICLE OF THE sACxA IX. Arneson would not flee; and being also short-sighted, was taken prisoner. So says Thiodolf : — '' To the six Danish earls who came To aid his force, and raise his name, No mighty thanks King Swend is owing For mighty actions of their doing. Finn Arneson, in battle known. With a stout Norse heart of his own. Would not take flight his life to gain. And in the foremost ranks was ta'en." Chapter Earl Hakon lay behind with his ships, while the j^ijj^ ' king and the rest of the forces were pursuing the flvf''^'^ fugitives ; for the earl's ships could not get forward on account of the ships which lay in the way before him. Then a man came rowing in a boat to the earl's ship, and lay at the bulwarks. The man was stout, and had on a white hat. He hailed the ship. " Where is the earl ?" said he. The earl was in the fore-hold, stopping a man's blood. The earl cast a look at the man in the hat, and asked what his name was. He answered, '' Here is Yandraade* : speak to me, earl." The earl leant over the ship's side to him. Then the man in the boat said, " Earl, I will accept of my life from thee, if thou wilt give it." Then the earl raised himself up, called two men who were friends dear to him, and said to them, " Go into the boat ; bring Vandraade to the land ; attend him to my friend's Karl the bonder; and tell Karl, as a token that these words come from me, that he let Vandraade have the horse which I gave to him yesterday, and also his saddle, and his son to attend him." Thereupon they went into the boat, and took the oars in hand, while Vandraade steered. This took place just about daybreak, while the vessels were in movement, some rowing towards the land, some
 * The unlucky, the ill-fated.