And with him rode three good
English knights who were of the court of Alexander. With a full company
of cavalry he rode across the plain and took up his position with Sir
Piers de Currie.
During this interval the hailstorm had abated, and the Norsemen had
again effected a landing in great numbers under the chiefs Ogmund
Kraekidantz and Haffling of Orkney.
Sir Piers de Currie and the steward rode forward side by side,
attempting in the chivalrous style of the time to provoke an encounter.
But none would take this challenge, so Sir Piers rode back. Then the
steward, riding in front of the ranks of the enemy who were drawn up
along the beach, was speedily surrounded. Spurring his charger, he
dashed forward, and wielding his great battle-axe he struck down the
opposing Norsemen as the waving wheat falls before the sickle, leaving a
row of slain men in his track.
The Norsemen then rushed forward with loud cries to meet the troops of
peasants and men of Bute who charged them. But the horsemen galloped in
between and drove the enemy along the shore. The fair-haired warriors of
the North again and again rallied and behaved with the accustomed
bravery of their viking ancestors, fearless of wounds and glorying in
warlike death.
Many galleys were then brought nearer inshore, and though assailed by
heavy stones from the Scots' machines and ceaseless showers of arrows,
their men scrambled upon the beach.
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