The brothers had chosen this fjord because it was protected by a little group of islands which might make it more secure as a winter haven than the open fjords. They tacked a little to and fro, using a corner of their sail, and surveyed the land. Bare mountains rose on either hand. On the north was a strip of fertile land along the fjord; on the east side the waves broke freely at the base of the mountain. The land at the end of the fjord seemed fertile and inviting, but they could not find a landing-place which suited them.
Ingolf proposed that they should inspect a little more closely the nearest fjord south of the one they were in. He had seen from the ship that there lay a broad fjord sheltered by a small, low group of islands.
They tacked past a promontory and entered the other fjord. It was both broader and deeper than the one they had just come from, but was likewise full of swans! Hallveig laughed with gladness when she saw it. This fjord also must be called "Svanefjord," she declared. They might be called North and South. She did not know there were so many swans to be found in the world. "Birds love this land," she said to herself.
Helga stood by her side. She compelled herself to smile and share Hallveig's gladness, but her heart was full of pain, for the beautiful land she saw here and which Hallveig already seemed to love, could never be hers. She saw the swans, the mountains, and the green dales. But in her heart there was no room for anything but a quiet, slightly strange emotion. The scent of the pines from the islands at home was too keen in her memory. Ingolf and Leif stood silent and in a solemn mood, side by side; they looked at the land and did not say a word. They had stood thus a long time when Ingolf turned to his brother and said quietly: "What do you think of the land, Leif?"
"It is a big land and seems a good one," answered Leif, in a low voice.
"If only most of it was not barren mountain," said Ingolf, but his voice lacked the reservation which his words expressed.
"I think we might soon feel at home among these mountains," said Leif.
"It does not look unfriendly," Ingolf admitted.
In his inmost heart he was deeply moved. The strength and sternness of the mountains filled his mind with a peculiar excitement. Among these mountains the green dales and fertile stretches of land, which he caught a glimpse of at the end of the fjord, assumed a doubly home-like aspect.
Suddenly Leif awoke from his long reflection and silent contemplation. Abruptly and unexpectedly, as always, a resolve had been born in his mind, and aroused him. "It is all the same to me what sort of a land it is—I shall settle here," he declared in an excited tone. "Since I have come, I think it would disappoint the land if I left it again. And I will not disappoint this land, which lies here so ready to receive me—so much is certain."