"They were then to the castle brought,
No desire had they to remain....
They could not relish the fare so hard
Which the Gudbrandsdal men gave—
Here are not many hens or sheep—
But lead and powder they got in their insides."
That at least eighteen remained alive can thus be seen from Kruse's Report, and, moreover, that some few remained behind in the valley is recorded by tradition. Storm sings that none of the Scots ever saw their own country again. Nevertheless it is related of at least one of them that "he came home."[110] The place in Qvam parish where the Scots killed at the barn were buried, is still shown a little to the north of the barn, and is called Skothaugen ("The Scot hillock").
The conduct of the Bönder towards their prisoners can certainly not in any way be justified; but so long as there is much that can be pleaded in extenuation, we should, on the other hand, be cautious in pronouncing an unqualified condemnation. According to tradition, they were excited to that deed by Peder Klognæs, who had seen so many cruelties committed by the Scots on the way, and who had himself suffered so much at their hands. It can be imagined that the real state of the case was possibly this: the Bönder, weary after a march of several days, and after the last day's work and fighting, came to Qvam with their prisoners, when they began, it may be supposed, to be weary of leading them further. It was the busy harvest time; they were possibly short of provisions. Perhaps some of them had a debauch, as previously at Sel, and excited by liquor as well as by the account of the cruelties of the Scots, they considered the latter worthy of death, and quickly set to work to slaughter them, notwithstanding that the principal men had opposed such a proceeding. (See ante.) It may be that the prisoners themselves had given them fresh cause for exasperation during their conveyance or while they were being guarded; and such a supposition is all the more within the range of possibility, since it is otherwise very singular that the Bönder did not kill their prisoners immediately after the affair at Solhjem (since their exasperation was so great on the following day), but conducted them one mile and a half (Norwegian) on the way to Agershuus.