There were two Vikings from the Southern Isles, named Vigbjod and
Vestmar; they were abroad both summer and winter. They had eight ships,
and harried mostly round the coast of Ireland, where they did many an
evil deed until Eyvind undertook the defence of the coast, when they
retired to the Hebrides to harry there, and right in to the Scotch
firths. Thrand and Onund went out against them and learned that they had
sailed to an island called Bot. Onund and Thrand followed them thither
with five ships, and when the vikings sighted them and saw how many
there were, they thought their own force was sufficient, so they took to
their arms and advanced to the attack. Onund ordered his ships to
take up a position between two rocks where there was a deep but narrow
channel, open to attack from one side only, and by not more than five
ships at once. Onund was a very wily man. He sent his five ships forward
into the channel so that, as there was plenty of sea room behind them,
they could easily retire by merely backing their oars. One ship he
brought under an island lying on their beam, and carried a great stone
to a place on the front of the rock where it could not be seen from the
enemy's ships. The Vikings came boldly on, thinking they had caught them
in a trap. Vigbjod asked who they were that he had hemmed in. Thrand
answered that he was a brother of Eyvind the Easterner, and the man with
him was his comrade, Onund Treefoot. The vikings laughed and said:
"Trolls take the rascal Treefoot
and lay him even with the ground.
Never yet did I see men go to battle who could not carry themselves."
Onund said that could not be known until it was tried. Then the ships
came together. There was a great battle in which both sides fought
bravely. When the battle was thick Onund ordered his ships to back their
oars. The vikings seeing it thought they were taking to flight, and
pushed on with all their might, coming under the rock just at the moment
when the party which had been dispatched for that purpose arrived. They
launched upon the vikings stones so huge that nothing could hold against
them. A number of the vikings were killed, and others were so injured
that they could fight no more. Then the vikings tried to escape, but
could not, as their ships were in the narrowest part of the channel and
were impeded both by the current and by the enemy's ships. Onund's men
vigorously attacked the wing commanded by Vigbjod while Thrand engaged
Vestmar, but effected little. When the men on Vigbjod's ship had been
somewhat reduced, Onund's men, he himself with them, prepared to board
her. On seeing that, Vigbjod spurred on his men resolutely. He turned
against Onund, most of whose men gave way. Onund was a man of immense
strength and he bade his followers observe how it fared with them. They
shoved a log under the stump of his leg, so that he stood pretty firm.
The viking dashed forward, reached Onund and hewed at him with his
sword, which cut right through his shield and into the log beneath his
leg, where it remained fixed. As Vigbjod bent down to pull his sword
clear again, Onund dealt him a blow on his shoulder, severing his arm
and disabling him. When Vestmar saw his comrade fall, he sprang on to
the outermost ship and escaped along with all who could get on to her.
Then they examined the dead. Vigbjod had already expired. Onund went up
to him and said:
"Bloody thy wounds. Didst thou see me flee?
'One-leg' no hurt received from thee.
Braver are many in word than in deed.
Thou, slave, didst fail when it came to the trial."
They took a large quantity of booty and returned to the Barra Isles in
the autumn.