A hundred yards up the river was a bend, and running toward this, Biorn motioned the men to hide behind the dry bushes that stood along the banks, while he ran forward to reconnoiter. A minute later he returned at full speed.
"Here they are," he cried. "Pass the word to wait till they come opposite, then loose arrows and at them with axes."
Barely had Biorn sunk out of sight when the pursuing party appeared, three-score Saxons under two leaders. "Pick off the leaders, men," whispered Sigurd, and as the party came between the two bands of Norsemen, Biorn's horn sounded, and a cloud of arrows poured into the compact body of Saxons. At the same time the vikings seized their swords and axes and ran forward.
The Saxons resisted bravely, but their leaders had fallen at the first fire, and after a minute of sharp hand-to-hand fighting they broke and fled.
Sigurd had headed his men, engaging a tall Saxon in single combat. The other wounded Sigurd badly in the shoulder at the first exchange of blows; and, dropping his shield, Sigurd grasped his great sword in both hands and rushed his foe. At the first blow the other's shield-arm fell, numb with the shock; at the second his sword flew from his hand and he slipped on the ice, falling heavily.
Seeing that the enemy had broken, Sigurd paused and shouted:
"Back, men, back! We only want to give them a lesson, not to slaughter them!"
His own men obeyed, but Alfred's Saxons drove on after the fugitives, and Sigurd could hardly blame them. Then he turned to his foe; the man lay looking up, awaiting the death stroke.
"Get up," exclaimed Sigurd with a laugh, "I am no murderer!"
With an amazed expression, the Saxon slowly got up, and then, seizing Sigurd's hand in his, knelt and kissed it. "Thanks, lord," he said, "you are the first who ever bested Wulf at the sword, and if you will take him, he will serve you right well!"