_Botolf_.--True is the saying that no chieftain in Iceland lays himself
down to sleep any day without danger!

_Kolbein_.--We are mortal men, we chieftains.

_Botolf_.--Will Gizur also have to be made a head shorter before
mid-summer, Kolbein, should he come to Iceland?

_Kolbein_.--Who can know what the future will bring, sir bishop?

(ASBJORN _and_ HAF _enter in headlong haste_.)

_Asbjorn_.--There is prospect of tidings; Broddi Thorleifsson comes
riding down the valley with two hundred armed men.

_Kolbein_ (_wrathfully, to the_ BISHOP).--What seeks my cousin Broddi at
Holar with two hundred men?

_Botolf_.--The peace of the land seems insecure to him and he is coming
hither for defending himself in the fort.

_Kolbein_.--You encourage men to rebellion against me, you devil in a
bishop's guise! Is that the peace the king and the archbishop intend to
bring to the land?

_Botolf_.--What means this wrath in God's church?

_Haf_.--What council shall we take, Kolbein? Broddi is advancing
rapidly.