midday
He had won no fame by his daring attack , but only ignominious defeat , and he was fain to escape alive , albeit very badly wounded . Thus Olaf Triggvison had made both the Danes and the Swedes take to flight , and it had all befallen as he had said . And now it must be told how Earl Erik Hakonson fared in that fight . True to the agreement which he and the two allied kings had come to over their dice throwing on the morning of that same fateful day , he had stood apart from the battle while Sweyn had vainly striven to make a prize of the Long Serpent ; and during the midday and until the retreat of King Sweyn he had engaged no more in the conflict than to direct his arrows from afar into the thick of Olaf Triggvison 's host . Now , Earl Erik was wise in warfare , and a man of keen judgment . He had fought with his father in the great battle against Sigvaldi and the vikings of Jomsburg , and from what he had seen on that day of Olaf Triggvison 's prowess , and from what he had since heard of Olaf 's warfare in England and other lands , he had made a very true estimate of the man who now fought in defence of the Long Serpent . He had also seen Sweyn Forkbeard in the thick of battle , and Olaf of Sweden no less .