for his enemies were armed with long and heavy weapons,
and one of them had a spear. He eluded their assaults, however, with
amazing activity, and wounded one of them so badly that he was obliged
to retire from the fray. Seeing this our hero made a sudden rush at one
of the men who fought with a battle-axe, seized the axe by the handle,
and with one sweep of his sword lopped off the man's arm.

Then did Erling also feel that victory was secure, for he now wielded an
axe that was almost as good and heavy as his own, and only one man stood
before him. Under the impulse of this feeling he uttered a shout which
rang through the forest like the roar of a lion.

Now, well would it have been for both Erling and Glumm if they had
restrained themselves on that occasion, for the shouts they uttered
served to guide two bands of enemies who were in search of them.

It will be remembered that Hake the berserk had gone after our heroes by
the forest road, but, not finding them so soon as he had anticipated,
and feeling a sort of irresistible belief that they had after all gone
by the fells, he altered his own plans in so far that he turned towards
the road leading by the mountains, before he reached the pine with the
double stem. Thus he just missed those whom he sought, and, after some
time, came to the conclusion that he was a fool, and had made a great
mistake in not holding to his original plan. By way of improving
matters he divided his little band into two, and sending five of his men
in one direction, rode off with the remaining four in another. Krake,
on the contrary, had fulfilled his orders to the letter; had gone to the
split rock, and then hastened to the double-stemmed pine, not far from
which, as we have seen, he found the men of whom he was in search, and
also met his death.

One of the bands of five men chanced to be within earshot when Erling
shouted, and they immediately bore down in the direction, and cheered as
they came in sight of the combatants. The three men who yet stood up to
our friends wheeled about at once and galloped to meet them, only too
glad to be reinforced at such a critical moment.

There was a little stream which trickled over the edge of a rock close
to the spot where the combat had taken place. Erling and Glumm leaped
off their horses as if by one impulse, and, running to this, drank
deeply and hastily. As they ran back and vaulted into their saddles,
they heard a faint cheer in th