es, I would to the
Gods that they were Hell-shoon, and that I was now binding them on thy
dead feet."

"Oh! the cat begins to spit," said Eric. "But know this: thou mayest
grease my shoes--fit work for a carline!--but thou mayest never bind
them on. Thou art a witch, and wilt come to the end of witches; and
what thy daughter is, that I will not say," and he pushed past her and
entered the hall.

Presently Asmund came to seek Eric there, and prayed him to be gone to
his stead on Ran River. The horses of Ospakar had strayed, and he must
stop at Middalhof till they were found; but, if these two should abide
under the same roof, bloodshed would come of it, and that Asmund knew.

Eric said yea to this, and, when he had rested a while, he kissed
Gudruda, and, taking a horse, rode away to Coldback, bearing the sword
Whitefire with him, and for a time he saw no more of Ospakar.

When he came there, his mother Saevuna greeted him as one risen from
the dead, and hung about his neck. Then he told her all that had come
to pass, and she thought it a marvellous story, and sorrowed that
Thorgrimur, her husband, was not alive to know it. But Eric mused a
while, and spoke.

"Mother," he said, "now my uncle Thorod of Greenfell is dead, and his
daughter, my cousin Unna, has no home. She is a fair woman and skilled
in all things. It comes into my mind that we should bid her here to
dwell with us."

"Why, I thought thou wast betrothed to Gudruda the Fair," said Saevuna.
"Wherefore, then, wouldst thou bring Unna hither?"

"For this cause," said Eric; "because it seems that Asmund the Priest
wearies of Groa the Witch, and would take another wife, and I wish to
draw the bands between us tighter, if it may befall so."

"Groa will take it ill," said Saevuna.

"Things cannot be worse between us than they are now, therefore I do not
fear Groa," he answered.

"It shall be as thou wilt, son; to-morrow we will send to Unna and bid
her here, if it pleases her to come."

Now Ospakar stayed three more days at Middalhof, till his horses were
found, and he was fit to travel, for Eric had shaken him sorely. But he
had no words with Gudruda and few with Asmund. Still, he saw Swanhild,
and she bid him to be of good cheer, for he should yet have Gudruda.
For now that the maid had passed from him the mind of Ospakar was set
in winning her. Bjoern also, Asmund's son, spoke words of good comfort
to him, for he envied Eric his great fame, and he tho