side. At the head of Loch Long they took their smaller ships and
mounting them on rollers made of the trunks of larch trees, they dragged
the vessels bodily over the neck of land that lies between Arrochar and
Tarbet, and launched them on the great lake that is called Loch Lomond.

Now on Loch Lomond there are many small islands that were at that time
thickly peopled, and many Scots of the invaded earldom of Lennox had
taken refuge on those islands when they heard that the Norsemen were
advancing. Their safeholds now became the scenes of plunder and
bloodshed, the islands were wasted with fire, the shores of the
beautiful lake were completely ravaged, and the houses on its borders
burnt to the ground.

After this, Roderic and Magnus made an extended expedition into the rich
county of Stirling, in which they massacred great numbers of
inhabitants, and returned driving herds of cattle before them, and
loaded with booty.

During his voyage up the Clyde, Roderic had paid little heed to the fair
captive Aasta. But when, triumphant and gloating, he returned to the
ships he had left in Loch Long, he discovered that his prisoner had
escaped, and he was very wrathful, for, as he said, the maid was passing
fair, and he had been minded to take her back with him to his castle.
But no man could tell him how the girl had escaped, or which way she had
fled.

Roderic, having filled his ships with plunder, then set out for Kintyre,
where he was to join King Hakon. But entering the Clyde from Loch Long,
he encountered a terrible storm. Ten of his vessels were completely
wrecked, and his own galley was forced to steer clear of Bute, and take
refuge behind the islands of Cumbrae.

The measure of the Norwegian success was now full. Hakon had gained
possession of every island, great and small, on the west of Scotland. In
the far north he had established his footing not only in the Shetlands
and Orkneys, but he had made himself master of the whole county of
Caithness. In the south, Kintyre had been unconditionally ceded to him
by its timid lord. Bute, Arran, and the Cumbraes had been conquered; the
rich county of Lennox -- one of the most fruitful in Scotland -- had
been laid waste, and on the outer coasts of the mainland the Norsemen
had planted their banner on many a well-built castle. Hakon was now
intent upon conquering Scotland, so, gathering his whole fleet of nearly
two hundred ships, he sailed from Gigha round the Mull of Kintyre