After that Starkad egged on his men, and then they turn down upon
them into the ness. Sigurd Swinehead came first and had a red
targe, but in his other hand he held a cutlass. Gunnar sees him
and shoots an arrow at him from his bow; he held the shield up
aloft when he saw the arrow flying high, and the shaft passes
through the shield and into his eye, and so came out at the nape
of his neck, and that was the first man slain.
A second arrow Gunnar shot at Ulfhedinn, one of Starkad's men,
and that struck him about the middle and he fell at the feet of a
yeoman, and the yeoman over him. Kolskegg cast a stone and
struck the yeoman on the head, and that was his deathblow.
Then Starkad said, "'Twill never answer our end that he should
use his bow, but let us come on well and stoutly." Then each man
egged on the other, and Gunnar guarded himself with his bow and
arrows as long as he could; after that he throws them down, and
then he takes his bill and sword and fights with both hands.
There is long the hardest fight, but still Gunnar and Kolskegg
slew man after man.
Then Thorgeir, Starkad's son, said, "I vowed to bring Hildigunna
thy head, Gunnar."
Then Gunnar sang a song:
"Thou, that battle-sleet down bringeth,
Scarce I trow thou speakest truth;
She, the girl with golden armlets,
Cannot care for such a gift;
But, O serpent's hoard despoiler!
If the maid must have my head --
Maid whose wrist Rhine's fire (1) wreatheth,
Closer come to crash of spear."
"She will not think that so much worth having," says Gunnar; "but
still to get it thou wilt have to come nearer!"
Thorgeir said to his brothers, "Let us run all of us upon him at
once; he has no shield and we shall have his life in our hands."
So Bork and Thorkel both ran forward and were quicker than
Thorgeir. Bork made a blow at Gunnar, and Gunnar threw his bill
so hard in the way, that the sword flew out of Bork's hand; then
he sees Thorkel standing on his other hand within stroke of
sword. Gunnar was standing with his body swayed a little on one
side, and he makes a sweep with his sword, and caught Thorkel on
the neck, and off flew his head.
Kol Egil's son, said, "Let me get at Kolskegg," and turning to
Kolskegg he said, "This I have often said, that we two would be
just about an even match in fight."
"That we can soon prove," says Kolskegg.
Kol thrust at him with his spear; Kolskegg had just slain a man
and had his hands full, and so he could not throw his shield
before the blow, and the thrust came upon his thigh, on the
outside of the limb and went through it.
Kolskegg turned sharp round, and strode towards him, and smote
him with his short sword on the thigh, and cut off his leg, and
said, "Did it touch thee or not?"
"Now," says Kol, "I pay for being bare of my shield."
So he stood a while on his other leg and looked at the stump.
"Thou needest not to look at it," said Kolskegg; "'tis even as
thou seest, the leg is off."
Then Kol fell down dead.
But when Egil sees this, he runs at Gunnar and makes a cut at
him; Gunnar thrusts at him with the bill and struck him in the
middle, and Gunnar hoists him up on the bill and hurls him out
into Rangriver.
Then Starkad said, "Wretch that thou art indeed," Thorir
Easterling, "when thou sittest by; but thy host, and father-in-
law Egil, is slain."
Then the Easterling sprung up and was very wroth. Hjort had been
the death of two men, and the Easterling leapt on him and smote
him full on the breast. Then Hjort fell down dead on the spot.
Gunnar sees this and was swift to smite at the Easterling, and
cuts him asunder at the waist.
A little while after Gunnar hurls the bill at Bork, and struck
him in the middle, and the bill went through him and stuck in the
ground.
Then Kolskegg cut off Hauk Egil's son's head, and Gunnar smites
off Otter's hand at the elbow-joint. Then Starkad said, "Let us
fly now. We have not to do with men!"
Gunnar said, "Ye two will think it a sad story if there is naught
on you to show that ye have both been in the battle."
Then Gunnar ran after Starkad and Thorgeir, and gave them each a
wound. After that they parted; and Gunnar and his brothers had
then wounded many men who got away from the field, but fourteen
lost their lives, and Hjort the fifteenth.
Gunnar brought Hjort home, laid out on his shield, and he was
buried in a cairn there. Many men grieved for him, for he had
many dear friends.
Starkad came home, too, and Hildigunna dressed his wounds and
Thorgeir's, and said, "Ye would have given a great deal not to
have fallen out with Gunnar."
"So we would," says Starkad.