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Page 34
_Jorun_.--My husband shudders at that sport; he is sick in his soul.
_Broddi_ (_seizing_ BRAND).--There is no time now to have a sick soul.
We shall have to fight. As soon as my brother-in-law Kolbein has made
an onset at our fort and lost many men he will himself see fit to obtain
conditions of peace from us.
_Brand_.--That will he never!
_Broddi_.--Maybe, maybe.
_Brand_.--It will cost many lives to attack and defend Holar this time.
Ought we to sacrifice them all merely to lengthen our own lives by a few
years?
_Broddi_.--Lives? Worth, each, one or two hundred ounces of silver!
Brand, you do not know the joy there is in fighting! Every man in the
fort has sworn to fall at his post. And I shall spare no effort, so that
he who will set down an account of it will be able to say with truth
that our last defence was the most glorious ever told of in sagas, and
that the fame thereof shall last while there live men in this land.
_Brand_.--I shall come to Holar, unless I find better counsel which you
approve of.
(ALF OF GROF, DEACON SIGURD, _and_ HELGI SKAFTASON _lead in the_ CLERK
HELGI _between them. He has a bandage over his eyes_.)
_The Clerk Helgi_.--Pax vobiscum! May Brand Kolbeinsson hear my voice?
_Brand_.--He is here.
_Helgi_.--What other persons are here?
_Brand_.--Broddi Thorleifsson and Jorun, my wife!
_Helgi_.--It is without the knowledge of Kolbein the Young and to bear
word from Bishop Botolf that I am here. Will all of you keep silent
about my coming here?
_All_.--Yes.
_Helgi_.--Then take the bandage from my eyes!
_Broddi_.--No. What happenings are there at Flugumyr?
_Helgi_.--I am no spy. My errand is to hand you the bishop's letter,
Brand Kolbeinsson. (_Holds out the parchment, which_ BRAND _seizes_.)
_Brand_.--Have you other messages besides?
_Helgi_.--No! (_Stretches forth both his hands_.) Give me your hands,
my sons. (BRAND _and_ BRODDI _clasp them_.) The very next time Asbjorn
Illugason meets you, Broddi, he means to exchange blows with you.
_Broddi_.--Glad I am that Kolbein, my brother-in-law, at least does not
bid some contemptible wretch to dispatch me. (HELGI SKAFTASON _leads out
the_ CLERK HELGI.) The bishop's letter! The bishop's letter!
_Sigurd_ (_reads_).--Botolf of Holar, a poor servant of the Holy Church
and prisoner at Flugumyr, sends to Brand Kolbeinsson and his friends
God's greetings and his. Pax vobiscum! You and your companions are not
to put overmuch trust in the fortifications of Holar, because from the
church, the dwelling house, and outhouses in the inclosure there lead
secret passages into them which are known to Kolbein the Young, but not
to me.
_Broddi_.--And that he could not have told us before, the hell-hound!
_Sigurd_ (_reads_).--Through the eggings on of Helga his wife, Kolbein
is now become so frantic and furious that some of my clerks think he
cannot suffer the sound of a bell. He has threatened to break down the
fort of Holar, to spare no one, and has promised his Lady Helga the life
of a man, whomever she will choose.
_Broddi_ (_laughs_).--I wonder whether she will have my life?
_Brand_.--No. It will be my life she desires.
_Jorun_.--She shall never have it.
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