t: and may the
high gallows and all things of grame have me, if I lie one word!"

Then cried Kostbera, "Fare ye well with merry days."

And Hogni answered, "Be glad of heart, howsoever it may fare with us!"

And therewith they parted, each to their own fate. Then away they rowed,
so hard and fast, that well-nigh the half of the keel slipped away from
the ship, and so hard they laid on to the oars that thole and gunwale
brake.

But when they came aland they made their ship fast, and then they rode
awhile on their noble steeds through the murk wild-wood.

And now they behold the king's army, and huge uproar, and the clatter of
weapons they hear from thence; and they see there a mighty host of men,
and the manifold array of them, even as they wrought there: and all the
gates of the burg were full of men.

So they rode up to the burg, and the gates thereof were shut; then Hogni
brake open the gates, and therewith they ride into the burg.

Then spake Vingi, "Well might ye have left this deed undone; go to now,
bide ye here while I go seek your gallows-tree! Softly and sweetly I
bade you hither, but an evil thing abode thereunder; short while to bide
ere ye are tied up to that same tree!"

Hogni answered, "None the more shall we waver for that cause; for little
methinks have we shrunk aback whenas men fell to fight; and naught
shall it avail thee to make us afeard,--and for an ill fate hast thou
wrought."

And therewith they cast him down to earth, and smote him with their
axe-hammers till he died.

ENDNOTES:
(1) Parallel beliefs to those in the preceding chapters, and
elsewhere in this book, as to spells, dreams, drinks, etc.,
among the English people may be found in "Leechdoms,
Wortcunning, and Starcraft of the Anglo-Saxons; being a
collection of Documents illustrating the History of Science
in this Country before the Norman Conquest". Ed: Rev. T. O.
Cockayne, M.A. (3 vols.) Longmans, London, 1864, 8vo.

CHAPTER XXXVII. The Battle in the Burg of King Atli.

Then they rode unto the king's hall, and King Atli arrayed his host for
battle, and the ranks were so set forth that a certain wall there was
betwixt them and the brethren.

"Welcome hither," said he. "Deliver unto me that plenteous gold which is
mine of right; even the wealth which Sigurd once owned, and which is now
Gudrun's of right."

Gunnar answered, "Never gettest thou that wealth; and men of