Part 22 (1/2)

The ht, and, when all was ready, Eric riive way The Gudruda leapt forward and rushed on towards Ospakar's shi+ps Now they saw that these were bound together with a cable and yet they o betwixt therireata black hels:

”Who art thou that bars the sea against reat man

”And what --your lives!” answered Blacktooth

”Thrice have we stood face to face, Ospakar,” said Eric, ”and it seelory Now it shall be proved if thy luck has bettered”

”Art yet healed, lord, of that prick in the shoulder which thou carim

For answer, Ospakar seized a spear and hurled it straight at Eric, and it had been his death had he not caught it in his hand as it flew Then he cast it back, and that so h the shi+eld of Ospakar and was the bane of a hed Eric On rushed the Gudruda, but now the cable was strained six fathoether the shi+ps of Ospakar and it was too strong for breaking Eric looked and saw Then he drew Whitefire, and while all men wondered, leaped over the prow of the shi+p and, clasping the golden dragon's head with his arm, set his feet upon its claws and waited On sped the shi+p and spears flew thick and fast about hiht the great rope and strained it taut and, as it rose beneath her weight, Eric s with Whitefire and clove it in two, so that the severed ends fell with a splash into the quiet water

Eric sprang back to deck while stones and spears hissed about hirirappling-irons,” shouted Eric

Up rose the rowers, and their war-gear rattled as they rose They drew in the long oars, and not before it was tions of Ospakar and lay with her bow to their sterns Then with a shout Eric's men cast the irons and soon the shi+ps were locked fast and the fight began The spears flew thick, and on either side soot their death before them Then the men of that vessel, named the Raven, which was to larboard of the Gudruda, made ready to board On they cah hardly, for they were ain they ca over the bulwarks, and this tiainst the dragon of Ospakar and saw it Then, with Skallagri the hold, and naught h and through thereat axe fell, and at every stroke a man lay dead or wounded Six of the boarders turned to fly, but just then the grappling-iron broke and their shi+p drifted out with the tide towards the open sea, and presently no man of that twenty was left alive

Now the men of the shi+p of Ospakar and of the Gudruda pressed each other hard Thrice did Ospakar strive to come aboard and thrice he was pushed back Eric was ever where he was rim, for these two threw themselves from side to side, and were now here and now there, so that it seeolden helm and one black, but rather four on board the Gudruda

Eric looked and saw that the other shi+p was drawing round, though soside of them once more

”Noe must make an end of Ospakar, else our hands will be overfull,”

he said, and therewith sprang up upon the bulwarks and after hiain, and now they thrust all Ospakar's men before them and passed up his shi+p on both boards By the mast stood Ospakar and with him Gizur his son, and Eric strove to come to him But many men were between theht yet went on hotly and on of Ospakar strike, and, looking, saw that they had drifted with the send of the tide on to the rocks of the island There was a great hole in the hull amidshi+ps and the water rushed in fast

”Back! men; back!” he cried, and all his folk that were unhurt, ran, and leapt on board the Gudruda; but Ospakar and hisinto the sea and swa-irons with his axe, and that not too soon, for, scarcely had they pushed clear with great toil when the long warshi+p slipped fro many dead and wounded men with her

Now Ospakar and some of his people stood safe upon the rocks, and Eric called to hi him come aboard the Gudruda

Ospakarhis hand, while the water ran froreatly ht theht not do this, because of the rocks and of the other dragon, that hung about theo back

”We will have her, at the least,” said Eric, and bade the rowers get out their oars

Nohen theon, they took to their oars at once and roiftly for the sea, and at this a great roar of laughter went down Eric's shi+p

”They shall not slip froive way, comrades, and after the, and the decks were all cumbered with dead and wounded, so that by the time that the Gudruda had put about, and come to the mouth of the ay, Ospakar's vessel had shaken out her sails and caught the wind, that no strong off shore, and sped away six furlongs or more from Eric's prow

”Noe shall see how the Gudruda sails,” said Eric, and they spread their canvas and gave chase