Now sword to sword the fight is raging,

Which Erling with the king is waging."

Then Erling's men began to fall, and at the same moment his ship was
carried by boarding, and every man of his died in his place. The king
himself was amongst the foremost in the fray. So says Sigvat:--

"The king's men hewed with hasty sword,--
The king urged on the ship to board,--
All o'er the decks the wounded lay:
Right fierce and bloody was that fray.
In Tungur sound, on Jadar shore,
The decks were slippery with red gore;
Warm blood was dropping in the sound,
Where the king's sword was gleaming round."

So entirely had Erling's men fallen, that not a man remained standing in
his ship but himself alone; for there was none who asked for quarter,
or none who got it if he did ask. There was no opening for flight, for
there lay ships all around Erling's ship on every side, and it is told
for certain that no man attempted to fly; and Sigvat says:--

"All Erling's men fell in the fray,
Off Bokn fjord, this hard-fought day.
The brave king boarded, onward cheered,
And north of Tungur the deck was cleared.
Erling alone, the brave, the stout,
Cut off from all, yet still held out;
High on the stern--a sight to see--
In his lone ship alone stood he."

Then Erling was attacked both from the forecastle and from the other
ships. There was a large space upon the poop which stood high above the
other ships, and which nobody could reach but by arrow-shot, or partly
with the thrust of spear, but which he always struck from him by
parrying. Erling defended himself so manfully, that no example is known
of one man having sustained the attack of so many men so long. Yet he
never tried to get away, nor asked for quarter. So says Sigvat:--

"Skjalg's brave son no mercy craves,--
The battle's fury still he braves;
The spear-storm, through the air sharp singing,
Against his shield was ever ringing.
So Erling stood; but fate had willed
His life off Bokn should be spilled.
No braver man has, since his day,
Past Bokn fjord ta'en his way."

When Olaf went back a little upon the fore-deck he saw Erling's
behaviour; and the king accosted him thus:--"Thou hast turned against me
to-day, Erling."

He replies, "The eagle turns his claws in defence when torn asunder."
Sigvat the skald tells thus of these words of Erling:--