At the first day of the stream cleansing Erik awakens at 4 o'clock in the morning, but he has to wait for two hours until Svensson and baron Urse turn up at the raft. Svensson has brought along two crates of beer and some aquavit, and he and the baron spend most of the day drinking and talking, while Erik is doing the cleansing. When it's time for lunch they have just cleansed a small part of the stream. The other villagers understand that this will not work. The Fox Breeder says that Svensson and the Baron must be replaced the following day, and asks Nikodemus and Elof to be prepared for this. At midnight the baron has a secret rendezvous with Märtha in the wood. He asks her to run away from Hedeby together with him. After some hesitation she agrees. Hidden in the greenery Erik watches the scene.
—Maths Jesperson {maths.jesperson1@comhem.se}