“Well spoken, Blacktooth,” laughed Eric. “I waited for such words from thee. Thrice have we striven together—once out yonder in the snow, once on Horse-Head Heights, and once by Westman Isles—and still we live to tell the tale. Come down, Ospakar: come down from that soft seat of thine and here and now let us put it to the proof who is the better man. When we met before, the stake was Whitefire set against my eye. Now the stake is our lives and fair Gudruda’s hand. Talk no more, Ospakar, but fall to it.”
“Gudruda shall never wed thee, while I live!” said Björn; “thou art a landless loon, a brawler, and an outlaw. Get thee gone, Eric, with thy wolf-hound!”
“Squeak not so loud, rat—squeak not so loud, lest hound’s fang worry thee!” said Skallagrim.
“Whether I wed Gudruda or whether I wed her not is a matter that shall be known in its season,” said Eric. “For thy words, I say this: that it is risky to hurl names at such as I am, Björn, lest perchance I answer them with spear-thrusts. Thy answer, Ospakar! What need to wait? Thy answer!”
Now Ospakar looked at Brighteyes and grew afraid. He was a mighty man, but he knew the weight of Eric’s arm.
“I will not fight with thee, carle,” he said, “who hast naught to lose.”
“Then thou art coward and niddering!” said Eric. “Ospakar Niddering I name thee here before all men! What! thou couldst plot against me—thou couldst waylay me, ten to one and two ships to one, but face to face with me alone thou dost not dare to stand? Comrades, look on your lord!—look at Ospakar the Niddering!”
Now the swarthy brow of Blacktooth grew red with rage, and his breath came in great gasps. “Ho, men!” he cried, “drive this knave away. Strip his harness off him and whip him hence with rods.”
“Let but a man stir towards me and this spear flies through thy heart, Niddering,” cried Eric. “Gudruda, what thinkest thou of thy lord?”
“I know this,” said Gudruda, “that I will not wed a man who is named ‘Niddering’ in the face of all and lifts no sword.”