, and a law for
a Fifth Court, and men have declared themselves out of my Thing, and
have gone over to Hauskuld's Thing."

"Ill hast thou repaid me," said Valgard, "for giving up to thee my
priesthood, when thou hast handled it so little like a man, and now my
wish is that thou shouldst pay them off by something that will drag them
all down to death; and this thou canst do by setting them by the ears by
tale-bearing, so that Njal's sons may slay Hauskuld; but there are many
who will have the blood-feud after him, and so Njal's sons will be slain
in that quarrel."

"I shall never be able to get that done," says Mord.

"I will give thee a plan," says Valgard; "thou shalt ask Njal's sons to
thy house, and send them away with gifts, but thou shalt keep thy
tale-bearing in the back ground until great friendship has sprung up
between you, and they trust thee no worse than their own selves. So wilt
thou be able to avenge thyself on Skarphedinn for that he took thy money
from thee after Gunnar's death; and in this wise, further on, thou wilt
be able to seize the leadership when they are all dead and gone."

This plan they settled between them should be brought to pass; and Mord
said--

"I would, father, that thou wouldst take on thee the new faith. Thou art
an old man."

"I will not do that," says Valgard. "I would rather that thou shouldst
cast off the faith, and see what follows then."

Mord said he would not do that. Valgard broke crosses before Mord's
face, and all holy tokens. A little after Valgard took a sickness and
breathed his last, and he was laid in a cairn by Hof.

CHAPTER CVII.

OF MORD AND NJAL'S SONS.

Some while after Mord rode to Bergthorsknoll and saw Skarphedinn there;
he fell into very fair words with them, and so he talked the whole day,
and said he wished to be good friends with them, and to see much of
them.

Skarphedinn took it all well, but said he had never sought for anything
of the kind before. So it came about that he got himself into such
great friendship with them, that neither side thought they had taken any
good counsel unless the other had a share in it.

Njal always disliked his coming thither, and it often happened that he
was angry with him.

It happened one day that Mord came to Bergthorsknoll, and Mord said to
Njal's sons--

"I have made up my mind to give a feast yonder, and I mean to drink in
my heirship after my father, but to that feast I wish to bid you, Nj