in the streaming gore of a foeman's wound.
But now a wretch of all honour bereft
reddens his dastard axe in whey."




CHAPTER XII

BATTLE AT RIFSKER


At that time there came over Iceland a famine the like of which
had never been seen before. Nearly all the fisheries failed, and
also the drift wood. So it continued for many years.

One autumn some traders in a sea-going ship, who had been driven
out of their course, were wrecked at Vik. Flosi took in four or
five of them with their captain, named Steinn. They all found
shelter in the neighbourhood of Vik and tried to rig up a ship
out of the wreckage, but were not very successful. The ship was
too narrow in the bow and stern and too broad amidships. In the
spring a northerly gale set in which lasted nearly a week, after
which men began to look for drift.

There was a man living in Reykjanes named Thorsteinn. He found a
whale stranded on the south side of the promontory at the place
now called Rifsker. It was a large rorqual, and he at once sent
word by a messenger to Flosi in Vik and to the nearest farms.