Ayrshire > Volume 1

50 HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE
them return, but few of them obeyed, and it was a sadly
lessened force that remained to carry on the combat ;
but these formed themselves into an impenetrable
phalanx and wrought mightily in their valour. Among
the fiercest of the Scottish Knights was Fergus, clad in
costly mail, with helmet of gold and set with precious
stones, who rode upon the Norsemen and encountered
their bravest leaders, and who, after the courtly fashion
of the age, challenged the best of them to single combat ;
but stout Andrew Nicolsen smote him so trenchant a
blow that the keen blade cut cleanly through chain
protection and armour and leg, nor stayed in its descent
until it had reached the saddle of his horse ; whereupon
Fergus reeled and fell dead, and the Norsemen stripped
him of his knightly belt. The cuirasses rang, the
Scandinavian heroes prostrated the illustrious warriors
of the land, the birds of prey were gluttonously filled
with lifeless limbs. And so the battle raged till the sun
had westered and was standing, before the down going,
over the black crests of the mountains of Arran. " The
champions of Norway's lord saluted the stout harnessed
barons with the rough music of battle. The train of
the supporter of thrones, courageous and clad in steel,
marched to the din of clashing swords. At the conflict
of corselets on the blood red hill, the damask blade
hewed the mail of hostile tribes, ere the Scots, nimble
as the hound, would leave the field to the followers
of our all- conquering King." And thus, according
to Sturla, the sun went down on victory for the
Viking?.
The following morning the Norsemen went ashore for
their dead and to gather in the spoil of the field, and then
they sailed for the westward. Longer they could not
wait, for the storms of the growing autumn were coming
on, the clouds were dark, and the seas were white with
foam. So they bore away, past Arran, past the Mull of
Kintyre, round into the waters flecked of the Hebrides.
As they went they restored their Hebridean Kinglets
and taught the usurpers a lesson, and sailing north, they