On some of them " Bersark's gang " would fall — that is,
they would become in a way mad, slaying all and sundry,
biting their shields, and possessed with a furious strength
beyond that of men, which left them as weak as children
when it passed away. These Bersarks were outlaws,
all men's enemies, and to kill them was reckoned a great
adventure, and a good deed. The women were worthy
of the men — bold, quarrelsome, revengeful. Some were
loyal, like Bergthora, who foresaw how all her sons and
her husband were to be burned; but who would not
leave them, and perished in the burning without a cry.
Some were as brave as Howard's wife, who enabled her
husband, old and childless, to overthrow the wealthy bully,
the slayer of his only son. Some were treacherous, as
Halgerda the Fair. Three husbands she had, and was
the death of every man of them. Her last lord was Gunnar
of Lithend, the bravest and most peaceful of men. Once
she did a mean thing, and he slapped her face. She
never forgave him. At last enemies besieged him in his
house. The doors were locked — all was quiet within.
