Njal said naught at that, and they ran in and came out again armed.

She goes first till they come to the sheepcote; she goes in and bade
them follow her. Then she lit a torch and held it up and said--

"Here, Njal, is thy son Hauskuld, and he hath gotten many wounds upon
him, and now he will need leechcraft."

"I see death marks on him," said Njal, "but no signs of life; but why
hast thou not closed his eyes and nostrils? see, his nostrils are still
open!"

"That duty I meant for Skarphedinn," she says.

Then Skarphedinn went to close his eyes and nostrils, and said to his
father--

"Who, sayest thou, hath slain him?"

"Lyting of Samstede and his brothers must have slain him," says Njal.

Then Rodny said, "Into thy hands, Skarphedinn, I leave it to take
vengeance for thy brother, and I ween that thou wilt take it well,
though he be not lawfully begotten, and that thou wilt not be slow to
take it".

"Wonderfully do ye men behave," said Bergthora, "when ye slay men for
small cause, but talk and tarry over such wrongs as this until no
vengeance at all is taken; and now tidings of this will soon come to
Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness, and he will be offering you
atonement, and you will grant him that, but now is the time to act about
it, if ye seek for vengeance."

"Our mother eggs us on now with a just goading," said Skarphedinn, and
sang a song.

Well we know the warrior's temper,[64]
One and all, well, father thine,
But atonement to the mother,
Snake-land's stem[65] and thee were base;
He that hoardeth ocean's fire[66]
Hearing this will leave his home;
Wound of weapon us hath smitten,
Worse the lot of those that wait!

After that they all ran out of the sheepcote, but Rodny went indoors
with Njal, and was there the rest of the night.

CHAPTER CIV.

THE SLAYING OF LYTING'S BROTHERS.

Now we must speak of Skarphedinn and his brothers, how they bend their
course up to Rangriver. Then Skarphedinn said--

"Stand we here and listen, and let us go stilly, for I hear the voices
of men up along the river's bank. But will ye, Helgi and Grim, deal with
Lyting single-handed, or with both his brothers?"

They said they would sooner deal with Lyting alone.

"Still," says Skarphedinn, "there is more game in him, and methinks it
were ill if he gets away, but I trust myself best for not letting him
escape."

"We will take such steps," says Helgi, "if we get a chance at him, that