One evening they all went to bed, and about midnight Grettir began to
toss about. Illugi asked him why he was so restless. Grettir said his
leg was hurting him and he thought there must be some change in its
appearance. They fetched a light, unbound the wound and found it swollen
and blue as coal. It had opened again and was much worse than at first.
He had much pain after that and could not keep quiet, nor would any
sleep come to his eyes.
Grettir said: "We must be prepared for it. This illness of mine is
not for nothing; there is witchcraft in it. The old woman has meant to
punish me for the stone which I threw at her." Illugi said: "I told you
that no good would come of that old woman."
"It will be all the same in the end," said Grettir, and spoke a verse:
"Often when men have threatened my life
I have known to defend it against the foe:
but now 'tis a woman has done me to death.
Truly the spells of the wicked are mighty."
"Now we must be on the watch; Thorbjorn Angle will not leave it to end
here. You, Glaum, must in future guard the ladder every day and pull it
up in the evening. Do this trustily, for much depends thereon. If you
betray us your end will be a short one."
Glaum promised most faithfully. The weather now became severe. A
north-easterly wind set in and it was very cold. Every evening Grettir
asked if the ladder was drawn in.
"Are we now to look for men?" said Glaum. "Is any man so anxious to take
your life that he will lose his own for it? This weather is much worse
than impossible. Your warlike mood seems to have left you utterly if you
think that everything is coming to kill you."
"You will always bear yourself worse than either of us," said Grettir,
"whatever happens. But now you must mind the ladder however unwilling
you may be."
They drove him out every morning, much to his disgust. The pain of
the wound increased, and the whole leg was swollen; the thigh began
to fester both above and below the wound, which spread all round, and
Grettir thought he was likely to die. Illugi sat with him night and day,
paying no heed to anything else. They were now in the second week of his
illness.