The brothers made them ready for this, and, taking each one his long-ship, went to seek Thorgils, and
learnt that he was come from the west, and had sailed northwards along the coast. Northwards after
him went they, and found him in Fir Sound. They knew the ship at once, and laid one of their ships on
the seaward side of her, while some of them landed, and thence went out on to the ship by the
gangways. Thorgils’ crew, apprehending no danger, made no defence; they found out nothing till
many armed men were aboard, and so they were all seized, and afterwards put on shore weaponless,
with nothing but the clothes they wore. But Hallvard’s men drew out the gangways, loosed the cables,
and towed out the ship; then turned them about, and sailed southwards along the coast till they met the
king, to whom they brought the ship and all that was in it. And when the cargo was unloaded, the king
saw that it was great wealth, and what Harek had said was no lie.

But Thorgils and his comrades got conveyance, and went to Kveldulf and his son, and told of the
misadventure of their voyage, yet were they well received. Kveldulf said all was tending to what he
had foreboded, that Thorolf would not in the end have good luck in his friendship with king Harold.
’And I care little,’ said he, ’for Thorolf’s money loss in this, if worse does not come after; but I
misdoubt, as before, that Thorolf will not rightly rate his own means against the stronger power with
which he has to deal.’

And he bade Thorgils say this to Thorolf:

’My counsel is that you go away out of the land, for maybe you will do better for yourself if you serve
under the king of England, or of Denmark, or of Sweden.’

Then he gave Thorgils a rowing-cutter with tackling complete, a tent also, and provisions, and all
things needful for their journey. So they departed, and stayed not their journey till they came to
Thorolf and told him all that had happened.

Thorolf took his loss cheerfully, and said that he should not be short of money; ’’tis good,’ said he, ’to
be in partnership with a king.’ He then bought meal and all that he needed for the maintenance of his
people; his house-carles must for awhile, he said, be less bravely attired than he had purposed. Some
lands he sold, some he mortgaged, but he kept up all expenses as before; he had no fewer men with
him than last winter, nay, rather more. And as to feasts and friends entertained at his house, he had
more means for all this than before. He stayed at home all that winter.

Chapter 19 - Thorolf retaliates.
When spring came, and the snow and ice were loosed, then Thorolf launched a large warship of his
own, and he had it made ready, and equipped his house-carles, taking with him more than a hundred
men; and a goodly company there were, and well weaponed. And when a fair wind blew, Thorolf
steered southwards along the coast till he came to Byrda; then they held an outer course outside the
islands, but at times through channels between hill-slopes. Thus they coasted on southwards, and had
no tidings of men till they came eastwards to Vik. There they heard that king Harold was in Vik,
meaning in the summer to go into Upland. The people of the country knew nothing of Thorolf’s
voyage. With a fair wind he held on south to Denmark, and thence into the Baltic, where he harried
through that summer, but got no good booty. In the autumn he steered back from the east to Denmark,
at the time when the fleet at Eyrar was breaking up. In the summer there had been, as was usual, many
ships from Norway. Thorolf let all these vessels sail past, and did not show himself. One day at
eventide he sailed into Mostrarsound , where in the haven was a large ship of burden that had come
from Eyrar. The steersman was named Thorir Thruma; he was a steward of king Harold’s, manager of
his farm at Thruma, a large farm in which the king used to make a long stay when he was in Vik.