Earl Svein was at that time far up in the Throndhjem fjord at Steinker,
which at that time was a merchant town, and was there preparing for
the yule festival (A.D. 1015). When Einar Tambaskelfer heard that the
Orkadal people had submitted to King Olaf, he sent men to Earl Svein
to bring him the tidings. They went first to Nidaros, and took a
rowing-boat which belonged to Einar, with which they went out into the
fjord, and came one day late in the evening to Steinker, where they
brought to the earl the news about all King Olaf's proceedings. The earl
owned a long-ship, which was lying afloat and rigged just outside the
town: and immediately, in the evening, he ordered all his movable goods,
his people's clothes, and also meat and drink, as much as the
vessel could carry, to be put on board, rowed immediately out in the
night-time, and came with daybreak to Skarnsund. There he saw King Olaf
rowing in with his fleet into the fjord. The earl turned towards the
land within Masarvik, where there was a thick wood, and lay so near the
rocks that the leaves and branches hung over the vessel. They cut down
some large trees, which they laid over the quarter on the sea-side,
so that the ship could not be seen for leaves, especially as it was
scarcely clear daylight when the king came rowing past them. The weather
was calm, and the king rowed in among the islands; and when the king's
fleet was out of sight the earl rowed out of the fjord, and on to
Frosta, where his kingdom lay, and there he landed.