Only a few days after his homecoming Leif sailed out again from Dalsfjord and left Helga alone with the pine-tree scent from the islands. Leif did not guess that the pain of separation which left in his mind only a fleeting pang, filled Helga with burning anxiety and unrest, which should not vanish till she had him again.
Leif sailed out over the sea and let the sea-breezes, the sense of solitary independence, together with the expectation of dangers and adventures, absorb his mind.
He sailed to Ireland, and traded and ravaged wherever he came. This time Ingolf had forgotten to exact any promises of caution from him. Leif had latterly appeared to him so altered that he simply had not considered it necessary. Leif was therefore completely free, unfettered by promises or considerations of any kind. And in the consciousness that this was now the last time he was on a Viking expedition, be displayed a daring and exuberance in his conduct which filled his men with joy and sent several of them to Odin.
During the summer Leif acquired, more by pillaging than by commercial genius, a very large supply of all kinds of goods, mostly valuable cloths and metals. In the course of the summer he succeeded in catching ten serfs—ten wiry, grimy men—who bore names like Duftak, Gerrod, Skjoldbjarn, Haldor, Drafdrit, and the like, sour-looking men with evil eyes, but good enough as serfs, tough at rowing as they sat chained to the oars, and enduring in all kinds of work. Luck, which only unwillingly forsakes the bold, followed Leif wherever he went. On one occasion, towards the close of the summer, it nearly went ill with him.
He had landed with his men on an apparently deserted coast, which was protected by skerries and rocky islands with strong currents between them—a place which only Leif could think suitable for landing. He caused his ships, loaded with the costly booty of the summer, to be rowed in between these skerries, in order to hide them in a rocky creek, which he had selected during a solitary excursion, while he with his men went for a foray in the neighbourhood. For this expedition he needed as many of his men as possible, the object being a very large and presumably rich town. Leif left the ships in the creek with only a few men to look over the chained serfs, whom he dared not allow to go free as long as he was so near their native place.
With the rest of his men Leif went on shore and he be-took himself to the wood. They were all full of great excitement and expectation. This was to be the last great adventure of the summer, and Leif expected a booty which might perhaps make it necessary to conquer a vessel to carry it in. Time would show!
The wood they intended to cross covered a steep mountain-side, from the summit down to the coast, and it was traversed by deep, rocky ravines covered with bushes. Leif and his men had not penetrated far into this very impassable wood when they were attacked by an armed force far superior to their own. The people of the town must have had spies out along the coast. They were not only outwardly but really prepared for their coming. Leif had just shouted to his men to fight each for himself, first and foremost to get away and save the ships, when the enemy was on them with strident war-cries and loud clashing of weapons. Leif had no time to see how his men fared. The people of the town had at once seen who was the leader, and since it was the leader whom it was the most important to strike, they flocked round him with lifted axes and upraised swords. Leif had to sacrifice his spear to one of the two nearest attackers; the other's head he split with his ax, but next moment a swarm of howling Irish were pressing on him. They did not, however, surround him, a fact which Leif, who was striking doughtily about him with ax in one hand and sword in the other—his shield he had thrown away—had no time to think about. They pressed him back in between the trees.
Leif, who at the moment only thought that six was the smallest number he could reasonably take with him to Valhalla, and was still short of two, suddenly lost his foothold. It happened so unexpectedly that his sword dropped from his hand, but with his ax he hooked himself fast to a tree-root in falling, and there he hung, swinging in the air, over the edge of a ravine. His attackers had raised a great shout of victory when he fell. They now gathered on the edge of the ravine, stood there and laughed at him, and made themselves merry at his plight. They pricked at him for amusement with their spears, while in loud tones they debated which would be the most amusing way to see him die. A proposal that they should slowly prick the life out of him gained the day. So they began to prick him in turn, each of them wishing to have his share of the pleasure.
Leif was in a desperate situation. He looked down at the bottom of the ravine, where there grew heather and bushes. He had no other resource than to let himself fall and see if he escaped with life. He wasted no time in reviewing the situation; he simply let go and let himself fall. At the moment he fell he perceived that men spread themselves on both sides of him, to find a way down to the ravine and to surround him there if he escaped from the fall with his life and whole limbs. The fall absorbed both his body and his thoughts. He turned two somersaults in the air and struck against something hard; there was a singing in his ears, and he fainted for a time.
When he came to himself again, he was lying on his back in some high heather and staring up at the light green leaves on some scattered stunted trees. He had a distinct consciousness of danger without at once remembering where it threatened him, and grasped involuntarily after his ax and spear. He grasped in vacancy, and when he discovered that he was weaponless, the whole situation was suddenly clear to him. In an instant he was on his legs, satisfied himself that no bones were broken, picked up his helmet, and, involuntarily stooping to half his height, set off, running as hastily as his somewhat stiff limbs allowed, into the thickest part of the wood, and took the way down to the coast.