had long been a friend of Olaf Peacock’s.  A sister of Thorstein was called Solveig; she was married to a man who was named Helgi, who was son of Hardbein.  Helgi was a very tall and strong man, and a great sailor; he had lately come to Iceland, and was staying with his brother-in-law Thorstein.  Halldor sent word to Thorstein the Black and Helgi his brother-in-law, and when they were come to Herdholt Halldor told them what he was about, and how he meant to carry it out, and asked them to join in the journey with him.  Thorstein showed an utter dislike of this undertaking, saying, “It is the most heinous thing that you kinsmen should go on killing each other off like that; and now there are but few men left in your family equal to Bolli.”  But though Thorstein spoke in this wise it went for nought. [Sidenote:  Thorgerd goes with her sons] Halldor sent word to Lambi, his father’s brother, and when he came and met Halldor he told him what he was about, and Lambi urged hard that this should be carried out.  Goodwife Thorgerd also egged them on eagerly to make an earnest of their journey, and said she should never look upon Kjartan as avenged until Bolli paid for him with his life.  After this they got ready for the journey.  In this raid there were the four sons of Olaf and the fifth was Bardi.  There were the sons of Olaf, Halldor, Steinthor, Helgi, and Hoskuld, but Bardi was Gudmund’s son.  Lambi was the sixth, the seventh was Thorstein, and the eighth Helgi, his brother-in-law, the ninth An Brushwood-belly.  Thorgerd betook herself also to the raid with them; but they set themselves against it, and said that such were no journeys for women.  She said she would go indeed, “For so much I know of you, my sons, that whetting is what you want.”  They said she must have her own way.

CHAP.  LV

The Death of Bolli

[Sidenote:  The journey] After that they rode away from home out of Herdholt, the nine of them together, Thorgerd making the tenth.  They rode up along the foreshore and so to Lea-shaws during the early part of the night.  They did not stop before they got to Saelingsdale in the early morning tide.  There was a thick wood in the valley at that time.  Bolli was there in the out-dairy, as Halldor had heard.  The dairy stood near the river at the place now called Bolli’s-tofts.  Above the dairy there is a large hill-rise stretching all the way down to Stack-gill.  Between the mountain slope above and the hill-rise there is a wide meadow called Barni; it was there Bolli’s house-carles were working.  Halldor and his companions rode across Ran-meads unto Oxgrove, and thence above Hammer-Meadow, which was right against the dairy.  They knew there were many men at the dairy, so they got off their horses with a view to biding the time when the men should leave the dairy for their work.  Bolli’s shepherd went early that morning after the flocks up into the mountain side, and from there he saw the men in the wood as