isle, o'er firth and sound,
Close on his track his foe he found.
At Ness the Agder chief at length
Seized him, and iron-chained his strength."

11. OF THE FALL OF EARL HUGE THE BRAVE.

Afterwards King Magnus sailed to Wales; and when he came to the sound of
Anglesey there came against him an army from Wales, which was led by
two earls--Hugo the brave, and Hugo the Stout. They began immediately to
give battle, and there was a severe conflict. King Magnus shot with the
bow; but Huge the Brave was all over in armour, so that nothing was bare
about him excepting one eye. King Magnus let fly an arrow at him, as
also did a Halogaland man who was beside the king. They both shot at
once. The one shaft hit the nose-screen of the helmet, which was bent by
it to one side, and the other arrow hit the earl's eye, and went through
his head; and that was found to be the king's. Earl Huge fell, and the
Britons fled with the loss of many people. So says Bjorn Krephende:--

"The swinger of the sword
Stood by Anglesey's ford;
His quick shaft flew,
And Huge slew.
His sword gleamed a while
O'er Anglesey Isle,
And his Norsemen's band
Scoured the Anglesey land."

There was also sung the following verse about it:--

"On the panzers arrows rattle,
Where our Norse king stands in battle;
From the helmets blood-streams flow,
Where our Norse king draws his bow:
His bowstring twangs,--its biting hail
Rattles against the ring-linked mail.
Up in the land in deadly strife
Our Norse king took Earl Huge's life."

King Magnus gained the victory in this battle, and then took Anglesey
Isle, which was the farthest south the Norway kings of former days had
ever extended their rule. Anglesey is a third part of Wales. After
this battle King Magnus turned back with his fleet, and came first to
Scotland. Then men went between the Scottish king, Melkolm and King
Magnus, and a peace was made between them; so that all the islands lying
west of Scotland, between which and the mainland he could pass in a
vessel with her rudder shipped, should be held to belong to the king of
Norway. Now when King Magnus came north to Cantire, he had a skiff
drawn over the strand at Cantire, and shipped the rudder of it. The
king himself sat in the stern-sheets, and held the tiller; and thus he
appropriated to himself the land that lay on the farboard side. Cantire
is a g