few firebrands would settle the matter by fraying the beasts away.
However, the man was urgent, and we went out with Raud and his
brother, and some twenty men, armed with spears and axes.

The night was very dark, and the snow whirled every way, and the
end of it was that Raud and I and two more men, with the dog Vig,
lost the rest, and before we found them we had the pack on us, and
we must fight for our lives. And that fight was a hard fight, for
there must have been a score of gaunt wolves, half starved and
ravenous.

And I think we should have fared badly, for at last I was standing
over Raud, who was down, dragged to the earth by two wolves, of
which the dog slew one and I the other, while the other two men
were back to back with me, and the wolves bayed all round us. But
Hubba and his party heard our shouts in time and came up, and so
ended the matter.

Now Raud must have it that I had saved his life, though I thought
the good dog had a share in it, and both he and the dog were a
little hurt. However, my shoulder was badly torn by a wolf that
leapt at me while my spear was cumbered with another, and I for my
part never wished it had not been so.

For Osritha, who was very skilful in leech craft, tended my hurt;
and I saw much of her, for the hurts were a long time before they
healed, as wolf bites are apt to be, and we grew very friendly. So
that, day by day, I began to long to see the maiden who cared for
my wound so gently, before the time came.