Until the King at last,

Gusty and overcast,

Like a tempestuous blast

Threatened and lowered.

Soon as the Spring appeared, Svend of the Forked Beard

High his red standard reared,

Eager for battle;

While every warlike Dane,

Seizing his arms again,

Left all unsown the grain,

Unhoused the cattle.

Likewise the Swedish King Summoned in haste a Thing,

Weapons and men to bring

In aid of Denmark;

Eric the Norseman, too,

As the war-tidings flew,

Sailed with a chosen crew

From Lapland and Finmark.

So upon Easter day

Sailed the three kings away,

Out of the sheltered bay,

In the bright season;

With them Earl Sigvald came,

Eager for spoil and fame;

Pity that such a name

Stooped to such treason!

Safe under Svald at last,
Now were their anchors cast,

Safe from the sea and blast,

Plotted the three kings;

While, with a base intent,

Southward Earl Sigvald went,

On a foul errand bent,

Unto the Sea-kings.

Thence to hold on his course,

Unto King Olaf's force,

Lying within the hoarse

Mouths of Stet-haven;

Him to ensnare and bring,

Unto the Danish king,

Who his dead corse would fling

Forth to the raven!

XVIII.

KING OLAF AND EARL SIGVALD.

On the gray sea-sands

King Olaf stands,

Northward and seaward

He points with his hands.

With eddy and whirl
The sea-tides curl,

Washing the sandals

Of Sigvald the Earl.

The mariners shout,

The ships swing about,

The yards are all hoisted,

The sails flutter out.

The war-horns are played,

The anchors are weighed,

Like moths in the distance

The sails flit and fade.

The sea is like lead,

The harbor lies dead,

As a corse on the sea-shore,

Whose spirit has filed!

On that fatal day,

The histories say,

Seventy vessels

Sailed out of the bay.

But soon scattered wide

O'er the billows they ride,

While Sigvald and Olaf

Sail side by side.