t my sword up into his leg, which made him give
back; but just at that moment the earth gave way under our feet, and a
great mass of stones and rubbish fell down on us, driving us all back
into the passage through which we had come, except the house-carle, who
had been caught by the enemy and dragged up into the hall. As soon as
we could get on our feet we tried to make for the hole again, but it was
so filled with earth and stones that we could not get forward a step.
Knowing, therefore, that it was useless to stay longer there, we ran
back to the entrance of the tunnel, but here we found a body of men who
had been sent out of the castle to cut off our retreat. We made short
work of these. Disappointment and anger had made every man of us equal
to two, so we hewed our way right through them, and got back to the camp
with the loss of only two men besides the house-carle.

"Next morning when it was daylight, the enemy brought the poor prisoner
to the top of the castle wall, where they lopped off his head, and,
having cut his body into four pieces, they cast them down to us with
shouts of contempt.

"After this Guttorm Stoutheart appeared to lose all his fire and spirit.
He sent for his chief men, and said that he was going to die, and that
it was his wish to be left to do so undisturbed. Then he went into his
tent, and no one was allowed after that to go near him except his
nephew.

"A week later we were told that Guttorm was dying, and that he wanted to
be buried inside the castle; for we had discovered that the people were
what they called Christians, and that they had consecrated ground there.

"When this was made known to the priests in the castle they were much
pleased, and agreed to bury our chief in their ground, if we would bring
his body to a spot near the front gateway, and there leave it and retire
to a safe distance from the walls. There was some objection to this at
first, hit it was finally agreed to--only a request was made that two of
the next of kin to Guttorm might be allowed to accompany the body to the
burial-place, as it would be considered a lasting disgrace to the family
if it were buried by strange hands when friends were near. This request
was granted on the understanding that the two relations were to go into
the castle unarmed.

"On the day of the funeral I was summoned to Guttorm's tent to help to
put him into his coffin, which had been made for him after the pattern
of the coffins