When Gunhild and her sons knew for certain that King Eirik had fallen,
after having plundered the land of the King of England, they thought
there was no peace to be expected for them; and they made themselves
ready to depart from Northumberland, with all the ships King Eirik had
left, and all the men who would go with them. They took also all the
loose property, and goods which they had gathered partly as taxes in
England, partly as booty on their expeditions. With their army they
first steered northward to Orkney, where Thorfin Hausakljufer was earl,
a son of Torfeinar, and took up their station there for a time. Eirik's
sons subdued these islands and Hjaltland, took scat for themselves, and
staid there all the winter; but went on viking cruises in summer to the
West, and plundered in Scotland and Ireland. About this Glum Geirason
sings:--
"The hero who knows well to ride
The sea-horse o'er the foamingtide,--
He who in boyhood wild rode o'er
The seaman's horse to Skanea's shore.
And showed the Danes his galley's bow,
Right nobly scours the ocean now.
On Scotland's coast he lights the brand
Of flaming war; with conquering hand
Drives many a Scottish warrior tall
To the bright seats in Odin's hall.
The fire-spark, by the fiend of war
Fanned to a flame, soon spreads afar.
Crowds trembling fly,--the southern foes
Fall thick beneath the hero's blows:
The hero's blade drips red with gore,
Staining the green sward on the shore."