barks,
drawn up the precipice right above the mouth of the cave; and had thick
ropes fastened around the stem, stern, and hull of each. In these boats
as many men went as could find room, and then the boats were lowered
by the ropes down in front of the mouth of the cave; and the men in the
boats shot with stones and missiles into the cave, and the heathens were
thus driven from the stone wall. Then Sigurd with his troops climbed
up the precipice to the foot of the stone wall, which they succeeded in
breaking down, so that they came into the cave. Now the heathens fled
within the stone wall that was built across the cave; on which the king
ordered large trees to be brought to the cave, made a great pile in the
mouth of it, and set fire to the wood. When the fire and smoke got the
upper hand, some of the heathens lost their lives in it; some fled; some
fell by the hands of the Northmen; and part were killed, part burned;
and the Northmen made the greatest booty they had got on all their
expeditions. So says Halder Skvaldre:--

"Forminterra lay
In the victor's way;
His ships' stems fly
To victory.
The bluemen there
Must fire bear,
And Norsemen's steel
At their hearts feel."

And also thus:--

"'Twas a feat of renown,--
The boat lowered down,
With a boat's crew brave,
In front of the cave;
While up the rock scaling,
And comrades up trailing,
The Norsemen gain,
And the bluemen are slain."

And also Thorarin Stutfeld says:--

"The king's men up the mountain's side
Drag two boats from the ocean's tide;
The two boats lay,
Like hill-wolves grey.
Now o'er the rock in ropes they're swinging
Well manned, and death to bluemen bringing;
They hang before
The robber's door."

7. OF THE BATTLES OF IVIZA AND MINORCA.

Thereafter King Sigurd proceeded on his expedition, and came to an
island called Iviza (Ivica), and had there his seventh battle, and
gained a victory. So says Haldor Skvaldre:--

"His ships at Ivica now ride,
The king's, whose fame spreads far and wide;
And hear the bearers of the shield
Their arms again in battle wield."

Thereafter King Sigurd came to an island called Manork (Minorca), and
held there his eighth battle with heathen men, and gained the victory.
So says Haldor Skvaldre:--

"On green Minorca's plains
The eig