[37]
In 1158, Ragnvald and Harold went, as they did every year, to hunt
red deer and reindeer[38] in Caithness, their hunting ground being
probably near the Ben-y-griams, which lay on the way to Kildonan, or
Strathnaver, where Eric probably lived; and some think there are still
remains of walls used as a pen for driven deer on Ben-y-griam
Beg, though these are more probably the ancient ramparts of a
hill-fort.[39] When they landed at Thurso, they heard that Thorbiorn
Klerk was hiding and lying in wait in Thorsdale[40] in order to make
an onslaught on Ragnvald, if he got a chance. After riding with a band
of a hundred men, twenty of them mounted, they spent the night at a
place where there was what the Celts call an "erg" (_airigh_) but
the Norse call "setr," the modern sheiling. Next day, as they rode
up along Calfdale, Ragnvald was in advance of the party, and, at
a homestead called Force,[41] Halvard hailed him loudly by name.
Thorbiorn was inside the house, and burst out through an old doorway,
and dealt Ragnvald a great wound, and the jarl fell, his foot sticking
in his stirrup, when Stephen, an accomplice, gave him a spear thrust;
whereupon Thorbiorn, after dealing him another wound, and receiving
a spear thrust in the thigh himself, fled to the moor.
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