emy was
upon them, and made off hastily in a ship. Meanwhile Brak, and those who
had broken in with him, snatched up the goods of the king, and got them
on board Erik's ships. Almost half the night was spent in pillaging.
In the morning, when the king found that they had fled, he prepared to
pursue them, but was advised by one of his friends not to plan anything
on a sudden or do it in haste. His friend, indeed, tried to convince him
that he needed a larger equipment, and that it was ill-advised to pursue
the fugitives to Denmark with a handful. But neither could this curb
the king's impetuous spirit; it could not bear the loss; for nothing had
stung him more than this, that his preparations to slay another should
have recoiled on his own men. So he sailed to the harbour which is now
called Omi. Here the weather began to be bad, provision failed, and
they thought it better, since die they must, to die by the sword than
by famine. And so the sailors turned their hand against one another, and
hastened their end by mutual blows. The king with a few men took to the
cliffs and escaped. Lofty barrows still mark the scene of the slaughter.
Meanwhile Erik ended his voyage fairly, and the wedding of Alfhild and
Frode was kept.

Then came tidings of an inroad of the Sclavs, and Erik was commissioned
to suppress it with eight ships, since Frode as yet seemed inexperienced
in war. Erik, loth ever to flinch from any manly undertaking, gladly
undertook the business and did it bravely. Learning that the pirates had
seven ships, he sailed up to them with only one of his own, ordering
the rest to be girt with timber parapets, and covered over with pruned
boughs of trees. Then he advanced to observe the number of the enemy
more fully, but when the Sclavs pursued closely, he beat a quick retreat
to his men. But the enemy, blind to the trap, and as eager to take the
fugitives, rowed smiting the waters fast and incessantly. For the ships
of Erik could not be clearly distinguished, looking like a leafy
wood. The enemy, after venturing into a winding strait, suddenly saw
themselves surrounded by the fleet of Erik. First, confounded by the
strange sight, they thought that a wood was sailing; and then they saw
that guile lurked under the leaves. Therefore, tardily repenting their
rashness, they tried to retrace their incautious voyage: but while they
were trying to steer about, they saw the enemy boarding them; Erik,
however, put his ship ashor