forged
that we shall feel. The odds are too heavy, lord."

"Mayhap," answered Eric. "No man may flee his fate, and I shall not
altogether grieve when mine finds me. Hearken, comrades: I go up to
Mosfell height, and there I stay, till those be found who can drag me
from my hole. But this is my counsel to you: that ye leave me to my
doom, for I am an unlucky man who always chooses the wrong road."

"That will not I," said Skallagrim.

"Nor we," said Eric's folk; "Swanhild holds Coldback, and we are driven
to the fells. To the fells then we will go with thee, Eric Brighteyes,
and become cave-dwellers and outlaws for thy sake. Fear not, thou shalt
still find many friends."

"I did not look for such a thing at your hands," said Eric; "but stormy
waters show how the boat is built. May no bad luck come to you from your
good fellowship. And now let us to our nest."

Then they caught the horses, and rode with Brighteyes up the steep
side of Mosfell, till at length they came to that secret dell which
Skallagrim had once shown to Eric. Here they turned the horses loose to
feed, and, going forward on foot, reached the dark and narrow pass that
Brighteyes had trod when he sought for the Baresark foe. Skallagrim led
the way along it, then came Eric and the rest. One by one they stepped
on to the giddy point of rock, and, catching at the birch-bush, entered
the hole. So they gained the platform and the great cave beyond; and
they found that no man had set foot there since the day when Eric had
striven with Skallagrim. For there on the rock, rotten with the weather,
lay that haft of wood which Brighteyes had hewed from the axe of
Skallagrim, and in the cave were many things beside as the Baresark had
left them.

So they took up their dwelling in the cave, Eric, Skallagrim, and the
six Coldback men, and there they dwelt many months. But Eric sent out
his men, one at a time, and got together food and a store of sheepskins,
and other needful things. For he knew this well: that Gizur and Swanhild
would before long come up against them, and, if they could not take them
by force, would set themselves to watch the mountain-path and starve
them out.

When Eric and Skallagrim rode away from Middalhof the fight still raged
fiercely in the hall, and nothing but death might stay it. The minds of
men were mad, and they smote one another, and slew each other, till
at length of all that marriage company few were left unharmed, except
Gi