ertain hillocks, which they concluded must
be habitations. They were then so overpowered with sleep that they could
not keep awake, and all fell into a [heavy] slumber, from which they were
awakened by the sound of a cry uttered above them; and the words of the
cry were these: "Awake, Thorvald, thou and all thy company, if thou
wouldst save thy life; and board thy ship with all thy men, and sail with
all speed from the land!" A countless number of skin-canoes then advanced
toward them from the inner part of the firth, whereupon Thorvald
exclaimed: "We must put out the war-boards, on both sides of the ship,
and defend ourselves to the best of our ability, but offer little
attack." This they did, and the Skrellings, after they had shot at them
for a time, fled precipitately, each as best he could. Thorvald then
inquired of his men, whether any of them had been wounded, and they
informed him that no one of them had received a wound. "I have been
wounded in my arm-pit," says he; "an arrow flew in between the gunwale
and the shield, below my arm. Here is the shaft, and it will bring me to
my end! I counsel you now to retrace your way with the utmost speed. But
me ye shall convey to that headland which seemed to me to offer so
pleasant a dwelling-place; thus it may be fulfilled, that the truth
sprang to my lips, when I expressed the wish to abide there for a time.
Ye shall bury me there, and place a cross at my head, and another at my
feet, and call it Crossness for ever after." At that time Christianity
had obtained in Greenland; Eric the Red died, however, before [the
introduction of] Christianity.

Thorvald died, and when they had carried out his injunctions, they took
their departure, and rejoined their companions, and they told each other
of the experiences which had befallen them. They remained there during
the winter, and gathered grapes and wood with which to freight the ship.
In the following spring they returned to Greenland, and arrived with
their ship in Ericsfirth, where they were able to recount great tidings
to Leif.

_Thorstein Ericsson dies in the Western Settlement._--In the meantime it
had come to pass in Greenland, that Thorstein of Ericsfirth had married,
and taken to wife Gudrid, Thorbiorn's daughter, [she] who had been the
spouse of Thori Eastman,[56-1] as has been already related. Now Thorstein
Ericsson, being minded to make the voyage to Wineland after the body of
his brother, Thorvald, equipped the