_The followers of Kolbein_.--No, no other man!

_Kolbein_.--Then your other choice is that all yeomen at their own
expense guard in four parties the frontier during the remainder of
winter. The first will have to be on the Skagafirth, to guard the road
over the Kjol and the ways leading from Storasand. The second guard will
have to be in Vididale, Vatnsdale, and Nupsdale to watch the paths over
the Grimstungu-heath, and the one over Tvidægra-heath. The third and
fourth guards will have to be in Midfirth and Hrutafirth, and to protect
the ways along the Holtavordu-heath, and those from the Dales and
Strands. When the sea is safe two light-sailing vessels will have to be
sent around the Skaw to reconnoitre the sea-way toward the west.

_Broddi_.--Well, you have thought out everything, brother-in-law; to me
this plan of war seems in every regard the best.

_Thorolf_.--If it is followed, Thord will never return west alive over
the Blanda River, should he attack us.

_Asbjorn_.--Thord will be able to get over the Kjol Mountains or the
Sprengisand Desert, down to the Eyafirth. There he will call upon his
friends and attack us in the flank.

_Thorolf_.--That is unthinkable. In order to reach either of these ways
Thord would have to journey around the whole island, and then overcome
Hjalti the bishop's son, and Gissur's men. I should think it likeliest
that Hjalti would flee north over the Kjol should he be defeated, and
come our way some little time before Thord, who would have to go by a
farther way and would waste his time in getting the men of Eyafirth to
rise. Kolbein's plan of war is the best that can be chosen.