They told us how that Arnkel was carrying on his mastership here with a high hand, being in no wise loved.

They said that men blamed him for bringing Heidrek on the land, seeing that he had made terms with him when it would have been as well to fight; and that, moreover, there were not a few who believed that in some way he had a hand in the loss of Gerda.

Now, he was trying to gather the men in order to go to the help of Eric the King, who was fighting in the Wick, as we had heard, and that was not at all to the mind of those who had followed Thorwald.

War in the Wick, beyond their ken altogether, was no affair of theirs.
Whereby it was plain that here we were likely to do a very good turn to Hakon at once, and we were just in time.

Our ship, which Heidrek had left here, was ready for sailing, as it seemed, and if we had come a day or two later we should have lost Arnkel, and maybe had trouble to follow.
Now, these two men were the pilots of the fjord, as we had guessed from their coming off to us.