ro indeed. His fame
spread through the whole district, and he was greatly beloved by all
men; but Thorbiorn hated him more than ever.

Soon another quarrel arose, when a stranded whale, which came ashore
on Howard's land, was adjudged to Thorbiorn. The lawman, Thorkel, was
summoned to decide to whom the whale belonged, and came to view it.
"It is manifestly theirs," said he falteringly, for he dreaded
Thorbiorn's wrath. "Whose saidst thou?" cried Thorbiorn, coming to him
menacingly, with drawn sword. "Thine," said Thorkel, with downcast
eyes; and Thorbiorn triumphantly claimed and took the whale though the
injustice of the decree was evident. Yet Olaf felt no ill-will to
Thorbiorn, for Sigrid's sake, but contrived to render him another
service.

Olaf's Second Fight with the Ghost

Brand the Strong, Thorbiorn's shepherd, could not drive his sheep one
day. Olaf met him trying to get his frightened wethers home: it seemed
an impossible task, because an uncanny human form, with waving arms,
stood in a narrow bend of the path and drove them back and scattered
them. Brand told Olaf all the tale, and when the two went to look,
Olaf saw that the enemy was the ghost of the dead wizard whom he had
fought before. "Which wilt thou do," said Olaf, "fight the wizard or
gather thy sheep?"

"I have no wish to fight the ghost; I will find my scattered sheep,"
said Brand; "that is the easier task."

Then Olaf ran at the ghost, who awaited him at the top of a high bank,
and he and the wizard wrestled again with each other till they fell
from the bank into a snowdrift, and so down to the sea-shore. There
Olaf, whose strength had been tried to the utmost, had the upper hand,
and again broke the back of the dead wizard; but, seeing that that had
been of no avail before, he took the body, swam out to sea with it,
and sank it deep in the firth. Ever after men believed that this part
of the coast was dangerous to ships.

Brand thanked the youth much for his help, and when he reached
Bathstead related what Olaf had done for him. Thorbiorn said nothing,
but Vakr sneered, and called Brand a coward for asking help of Olaf.
The strife grew keen between them, almost to blows, and was only
settled by Thorbiorn, who forbade Brand to praise Olaf or to accept
help from him. His ill-will grew so evident to all men that Howard the
Halt decided, in spite of Olaf's reluctance, to remove to a homestead
on the other side of the firth, away from Thorb