"On those terms," said Ogmund, "we cannot deal with you."
"That suits me better," Halward said, and made a jump for the bulwark of the ship. He swung himself up as easily as a boy into a row-boat; and the moment he was on deck, he aimed at Ogmund with the hammer-end of his axe, and felled him like a bullock. Down he went, and never stirred. Some of the shipmen who were in the forepart of the ship saw it all done; but not one of them cared to move. Halward was a very big man.
At leisure he went over the side into his boat, and was pulled ashore. Then he went to Earl Haakon and told him what he had done. "You have done well," said the Earl.
HOW OGMUND DINT DID NOTHING AND PRESENTLY SAILED HOME TO THWARTWATER; AND WHAT BATTLE-GLUM THOUGHT ABOUT IT ALL
CHAPTER II HOW OGMUND DINT DID NOTHING, AND PRESENTLY SAILED HOME TO THWARTWATER; AND WHAT BATTLE-GLUM THOUGHT ABOUT IT ALL
That was why Ogmund Ravensson was called Ogmund Dint, or Dint-head. Halward's hammer had knocked a great hollow in his skull. Men said you could have boiled an egg in it; but that is nonsense. At any rate, he was senseless for a long time, and not his own man all the winter; yet as soon as he was fit to be moved he was carried up into the country, to his house-stead, and given over to his bondwoman to nurse.