“Dost thou speak me free now?” says Thrain.  “Far from it,” says the Earl, “and yet I cannot tell why we cannot find him, but methinks I see through it all when I come on shore, but when I come here, I can see nothing.”

With that he made them row him ashore.  He was so wroth that there was no speaking to him.  His son Sweyn was there with him, and he said, “A strange turn of mind this to let guiltless men smart for one’s wrath!”

Then the Earl went away alone aside from other men, and after that he went back to them at once, and said—­

“Let us row out to them again,” and they did so.

“Where can he have been hidden?” says Sweyn.

“There’s not much good in knowing that,” says the Earl, “for now he will be away thence; two sacks lay there by the rest of the lading, and Hrapp must have come into the lading in their place.”

Then Thrain began to speak, and said—­

“They are running off the ship again, and they must mean to pay us another visit.  Now we will take him out of the lading, and stow other things in his stead, but let the sacks still lie loose.  They did so, and then Thrain spoke—­

“Now let us fold Hrapp in the sail.”

It was then brailed up to the yard, and they did so.

Then the Earl comes to Thrain and his men, and he was very wroth, and said, “Wilt thou now give up the man, Thrain?” and he is worse now than before.

“I would have given him up long ago,” answers Thrain, “if he had been in my keeping, or where can he have been?”

“In the lading,” says the Earl.

“Then why did ye not seek him there?” says Thrain.

“That never came into our mind,” says the Earl.

After that they sought him over all the ship, and found him not.

“Will you now hold me free?” says Thrain.

“Surely not,” says the Earl, “for I know that thou hast hidden away the man, though I find him not; but I would rather that thou shouldest be a dastard to me than I to thee,” says the Earl, and then they went on shore.

“Now,” says the Earl, “I seem to see that Thrain has hidden away Hrapp in the sail.”

Just then up sprung a fair breeze, and Thrain and his men sailed out to sea.  He then spoke these words which have long been held in mind since—­

  Let us make the Vulture fly,
  Nothing now gars Thrain flinch.

But when the Earl heard of Thrain’s words, then he said—­

“Tis not my want of foresight which caused this, but rather their ill-fellowship, which will drag them both to death.”

Thrain was a short time out on the sea, and so came to Iceland, and fared home to his house.  Hrapp went along with Thrain, and was with him that year; but the spring after, Thrain got him a homestead at Hrappstede, and he dwelt there; but yet he spent most of his time At Gritwater.  He was thought to spoil everything there, and some men even said that he was too good friends with Hallgerda, and that he led her astray, but some spoke against that.