to tell, and
does naught but egg Skarphedinn and them on to slay Hauskuld, and
said he would be beforehand with them if they did not fall on him
at once.

"I will let thee have thy way in this," says Skarphedinn, "if
thou wilt fare with us, and have some hand in it."

"That I am ready to do," says Mord, and so they bound that fast
with promises, and he was to come there that evening.

Bergthora asked Njal, "What are they talking about out of doors?"

"I am not in their counsels," says Njal, "but I was seldom left
out of them when their plans were good."

Skarphedinn did not lie down to rest that evening, nor his
brothers, nor Kari.

That same night, when it was well-nigh spent, came Mord Valgard's
son, and Njal's sons and Kari took their weapons and rode away.
They fared till they came to Ossaby, and bided there by a fence.
The weather was good, and the sun just risen.

110. THE SLAYING OF HAUSKULD, THE PRIEST OF WHITENESS

About that time Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness, awoke; he put
on his clothes, and threw over him his cloak, Flosi's gift. He
took his corn-sieve, and had his sword in his other hand, and
walks towards the fence, and sows the corn as he goes.

Skarphedinn and his band had agreed that they would all give
him a wound. Skarphedinn sprang up from behind the fence, but
when Hauskuld saw him he wanted to turn away, then Skarphedinn
ran up to him and said, "Don't try to turn on thy heel, Whiteness
priest," and hews at him, and the blow came on his head, and he
fell on his knees. Hauskuld said these words when he fell, "God
help me, and forgive you!"

Then they all ran up to him and gave him wounds.

After that Mord said, "A plan comes into my mind."

"What is that?" says Skarphedinn.

"That I shall fare home as soon as I can, but after that I will
fare up to Gritwater, and tell them the tidings, and say 'tis an
ill deed; but I know surely that Thorgerda will ask me to give
notice of the slaying, and I will do that, for that will be the
surest way to spoil their suit. I will also send a man to Ossaby
and know how soon they take any counsel in the matter, and that
man will learn all these tidings thence, and I will make believe
that I have heard them from him."

"Do so by all means," says Skarphedinn.

Those brothers fared home, and Kari with them, and when they came
home they told Njal the tidings.

"Sorrowful tidings are these," says Njal, "and such are ill to
hear, for soo