Then the great beams out of the roof began to fall, and Skarphedinn said, "Now must my father be dead, and I have neither heard groan nor cough from him."
Then they went to the end of the hall, and there had fallen down a cross-beam inside which was much burnt in the middle.
Kari spoke to Skarphedinn, and said, "Leap thou out here, and I will help thee to do so, and I will leap out after thee, and then we shall both get away if we set about it so, for hitherward blows all the smoke."
"Thou shalt leap first," said Skarphedinn; "but I will leap straightway on thy heels."
"That is not wise," says Kari, "for I can get out well enough elsewhere, though it does not come about here."
"I will not do that," says Skarphedinn; "leap thou out first, but
I will leap after thee at once."
"It is bidden to every man," says Kari, "to seek to save his life while he has a choice, and I will do so now; but still this parting of ours will be in such wise that we shall never see one another more; for if I leap out of the fire, I shall have no mind to leap back into the fire to thee, and then each of us will have to fare his own way."
"It joys me, brother-in-law," says Skarphedinn, "to think that if thou gettest away thou wilt avenge me."
Then Kari took up a blazing bench in his hand, and runs up along the cross-beam, then he hurls the bench out at the roof, and it fell among those who were outside.
Then they ran away, and by that time all Kari's upper clothing and his hair were a-blaze, then he threw himself down from the roof, and so crept along with the smoke.