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diff --git a/21757.txt b/21757.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3186626 --- /dev/null +++ b/21757.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10499 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hot Swamp, by R.M. Ballantyne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Hot Swamp + +Author: R.M. Ballantyne + +Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21757] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOT SWAMP *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +THE HOT SWAMP, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE. + +CHAPTER ONE. + +A ROMANCE OF OLD ALBION. + +OPENS WITH LEAVE-TAKING. + +Nearly two thousand seven hundred years ago--or somewhere about eight +hundred years BuCu--there dwelt a Phoenician sea-captain in one of the +eastern sea-ports of Greece--known at that period, or soon after, as +Hellas. + +This captain was solid, square, bronzed, bluff, and resolute, as all +sea-captains are--or ought to be--whether ancient or modern. He owned, +as well as commanded, one of those curious vessels with one mast and a +mighty square-sail, fifty oars or so, double-banked, a dragon's tail in +the stern and a horse's head at the prow, in which the Phoenicians of +old and other mariners were wont to drive an extensive and lucrative +trade in the Mediterranean; sometimes pushing their adventurous keels +beyond the Pillars of Hercules, visiting the distant Cassiterides or Tin +Isles, and Albion, and even penetrating northward into the Baltic, in +search of tin, amber, gold, and what not. + +One morning this captain, whose name was Arkal, sauntered up from the +harbour to his hut, which stood on a conspicuous eminence overlooking +the bay. His hands were not thrust into his pockets, because he had no +pockets to put them into--the simple tunic of the period being destitute +of such appendages. Indeed, the coarse linen tunic referred to +constituted the chief part of his costume, the only other portions being +a pair of rude shoes on his feet, a red fez or tarbouche on his bushy +brown locks, and yards of something wound round his lower limbs to +protect them from thorns on shore, as well as from the rasping of +cordage and cargo at sea. + +At the door of his hut stood his pretty little Greek wife, with a solid, +square, bluff, and resolute, but not yet bronzed, baby in her arms. + +"Well, Penelope, I'm off," said the captain. At least he used words to +that effect, as he enveloped wife and baby in a huge embrace. + +Of course he spoke in a dialect of ancient Greek, of which we render a +free translation. + +The leave-taking was of the briefest, for just then a loud halloo from +his mate, or second in command, apprised the captain that all was ready +to set sail. But neither Penelope nor her husband were anxious souls or +addicted to the melting mood. The square baby was rather more given to +such conditions. In emulation of the mate it set up a sudden howl which +sent its father away laughing to the harbour. + +"No sign of the young men," remarked the mate, as his superior came +within hail. + +"It is ever the way with these half-fledged boys who think themselves +men while their faces are yet hairless," growled the captain, casting a +glance at his unfailing chronometer, the rising sun. "They have no more +regard for the movements of that ball of fire than if it was set in the +sky merely to shine and keep them warm, and had no reference whatever to +time. If this youth from Albion does not appear soon, I shall set sail +without him, prince though he be, and leave him to try his hand at +swimming to the Cassiterides. His comrade and friend, Dromas, assured +me they would not keep us waiting; but he is no better than the rest of +them--a shouting, singing, smooth-faced, six-foot set they are, who +think they inherit the combined wisdom of all their grandfathers but +none of their weaknesses; reckless fear-nothings, fit only for war and +the Olympic games!" + +"Nevertheless, we could not do well without them," returned the mate, +glancing significantly at the ship's crew, a large proportion of which +was composed of these same stalwart fear-nothings of whom his leader +spoke so contemptuously; "at least they would make a fine show at these +games, and our ventures at sea would not prosper so well if we had not +such to help us." + +"True, true, and I would not speak slightingly of them, but they do try +one's patience; here is the wind failing, and we all ready to hoist +sail," returned the captain with another growl, a glance at the sky, and +a frown at his vessel, everything about which betokened readiness for +instant departure. The crew--partly composed of slaves--were seated at +the oars; the fighting men and seamen were all on board arranging their +shields round the vessel's sides, and the great sail was cast loose +ready to hoist as soon as the mouth of the harbour should be cleared. + +Just then a band of young men issued from the town, and the captain's +good humour was restored as they hurried towards him. They seemed to be +much excited, and talked in loud tones as they advanced, their manners +and costumes indicating that they belonged to the upper ranks of +society. + +One of the band, a fair youth, towered, like Saul, head and shoulders +above his fellows. Another, of dark complexion, handsome features, and +elegant, active frame, hurried forward to salute the captain. + +"I fear we have kept you waiting," he said with a pleasant expression +that disarmed reproof. + +"I will not deny that, Dromas," answered the captain, "but you have not +detained me long. Nevertheless, I was on the point of sailing without +your friend, for the winds and waves respect no one." + +"But you are neither a wind nor a wave," remarked the youth. + +"True, but I am the humble friend of both," retorted the captain, "and +am bound to accommodate myself to them. I suppose this is the prince +you spoke of," he added, turning to the towering youth already referred +to, with the air of a man who had as little--or as much--regard for a +prince as a peasant. + +"Yes, Captain Arkal, this is Prince Bladud. Let me present him to you." + +As the prince and the seaman joined hands the latter looked up from an +altitude of five feet six and squared his broad shoulders with the air +of a man ready to defy all creation, and anxious rather than otherwise +to do so. The prince, on the other hand, looked down from an eminence +of six feet seven, and bent his head with a modest grace and a genial +smile that indicated a desire to be on good terms, if possible, with the +world at large. + +Although almost equal as to physical strength, the inequality of the two +men in height rendered their experience in those rude warlike times very +dissimilar, for, whereas the sailor was often compelled to give proof of +his strength to tall unbelievers, the prince very seldom had occasion to +do so. Hence, partly, their difference in manner, the one being +somewhat pugnacious and the other conciliatory, while both were in +reality good-natured, peace-loving men. + +No two men, however, could have been more unlike in outward aspect. The +prince was, if we may say so, built on the Gothic model--fair, +blue-eyed, bulky of limb, huge, muscular, massive, with a soft beard and +moustache--for he had not yet seen twenty-four summers--and hair that +fell like rippling gold on his shoulders. Captain Arkal, on the +contrary, was dark, with a thick reddish beard, luxuriant brown hair, +piercing black eyes, and limbs that were hardened as well as darkened by +thirty years of constant exposure to elemental and other warfare. + +"I hope that I may be of some use to you," said the prince, "though I +profess not to know more of seamanship than I acquired during my voyage +hither, and as that voyage occurred six years ago, it may be that I have +lost the little I had learned. But if pirates should assail us, perhaps +I may do you some service." + +"Little fear I have of that," returned the captain with an approving +nod. "Now, bid your comrades farewell and get on board, for the wind is +failing fast, and it behoves us to get well forward on our voyage before +night." + +It was evident that the leave-taking which ensued was not merely formal, +for the youths from whom Bladud was parting had been his companions in +study for six years, as well as his competitors in all the manly games +of the period, and as he excelled them all in most things--especially in +athletics--some looked up to the young prince from Albion as a sort of +demi-god, while others to whom he had been helpful in many ways regarded +him with the warmest affection. + +"Come here aside with me; I must have a few last words with you alone," +said Bladud, taking young Dromas by the arm and leading him aside. + +The prince's other friends made no objection to this evidence of +preference, for Dromas had shared the same apartment with him while in +Athens, and engaged in similar studies with Bladud for several years; +had travelled with him in the East, and sailed over the sea in his +company, even as far as Egypt, besides having been second to him in most +of the games practised by the young men. Indeed, at the high jump he +equalled, and at the short race had even excelled him. + +"Dromas," said the prince impressively--"Come, now, my old friend and +comrade," interrupted the Greek youth lightly, "don't put on such a long +face. I foresee that you are about to give me a lecture, and I don't +want the tone of remonstrance to be the last that I shall hear. I know +that I'm a wild, good-for-nothing fellow, and can guess all you would +say to me. Let us rather talk of your speedy return to Hellas, for, to +tell you the truth, I feel as if the loss of you would leave me like a +poor man who has been crippled in the wars. I shall be a mere shadow +till you return." + +There was a slight tremor in the voice, which showed that much of the +gaiety of the young man was forced. + +"Nay, I have no mind to give you a lecture," returned Bladud, "I only +ask you to grant me two requests." + +"Granted, before mentioned, for you have ever been a reasonable +creature, Bladud, and I trust you to retain your character on the +present occasion." + +"Well, then, my first request is that you will often remember the many +talks that you and I have had about the gods, and the future life, and +the perplexing conditions in which we now live." + +"Remember them," exclaimed Dromas with animation, "my difficulty would +be to forget them! The questions which you have propounded and +attempted to answer--for I do not admit that you have been quite +successful in the attempt--have started up and rung in my ears at all +kinds of unseasonable times. They haunt me often in my dreams--though, +to say truth, I dream but little, save when good fellowship has led me +to run supper into breakfast--they worry me during my studies, which, +you know, are frequent though not prolonged; they come between me and +the worthy rhapsodist when he is in the middle of the most interesting-- +or least wearisome--passage of the poem, and they even intrude on me at +the games. The very last race I ran was lost, only by a few inches, +because our recent talk on the future of cats caused a touch of internal +laughter which checked my pace at the most critical moment. You may +rest assured that I cannot avoid granting your first request. What is +your second?" + +"That you promise to visit me in my home in Albion. You know that it +will be impossible for me ever again to re-visit these shores, where I +have been so happy. My father, if he forgives my running away from him, +will expect me to help him in the management of his affairs. But you +have nothing particular to detain you here--" + +"You forget--the old woman," interrupted Dromas gravely. + +"What old woman?" asked Bladud in surprise. + +"My mother!" returned his friend. + +The prince looked a little confused and hastened to apologise. Dromas' +mother was one of those unfortunate people who existed in the olden time +as well as in modern days, though perhaps not so numerously. She was a +confirmed invalid, who rarely quitted her house, and was seldom seen by +any one save her most intimate friends, so that she was apt to be +forgotten--out of sight out of mind, then as now. + +"Forgive me, Dromas--," began Bladud, but his friend interrupted him. + +"I cannot forgive when I have nothing to forgive! Say no more about +that. But, now I come to consider of it, I grant your second request +conditionally. If my mother agrees to accompany me to Albion, you may +expect to see me some day or other--perhaps a year or two hence. You +see, since my father and brother were slain in the last fight with our +neighbours, I am the only one left to comfort her, so I cannot forsake +her." + +"Then this will be our final parting," returned Bladud, sadly, "for your +mother will never consent to leave home." + +"I don't know that," returned Dromas with a laugh. "The dear old soul +is intensely adventurous, like myself, and I do believe would venture on +a voyage to the Cassiterides, if the fancy were strong upon her. You +have no idea how powerfully I can work upon her feelings. I won't say +that I can make much impression on her intellect. Indeed, I have reason +to know that she does not believe in intellect except as an unavoidable +doorway leading into the feelings. The fact is, I tried her the other +day with the future of cats, and do you know, instead of treating that +subject with the gravity it merits, she laughed in my face and called me +names--not exactly bad names, such as the gods might object to--but +names that were not creditable to the intelligence of her first-born. +Now," continued Dromas with increasing gravity, "when I paint to her the +beauty of your native land; the splendour of your father's court; the +kindliness of your mother, and the exceeding beauty of your sister--fair +like yourself, blue-eyed, tall--you said she was tall, I think?" + +"Yes--rather tall." + +"Of course not _quite_ so tall as yourself, say six feet or so, with a +slight, feminine beard--no? you shake your head; well, smooth-faced and +rosy, immense breadth of shoulders--ah! I have often pictured to myself +that sister of yours--" + +"Hilloa!" shouted Captain Arkal in a nautical tone that might almost +have been styled modern British in its character. + +It was an opportune interruption, for Dromas had been running on with +his jesting remarks for the sole purpose of crushing down the feelings +that almost unmanned him. + +With few but fervently uttered words the final farewells were at last +spoken. The oars were dipped; the vessel shot from the land, swept out +upon the blue waves of the Aegean, the sail was hoisted, and thus began +the long voyage to the almost unknown islands of the far North-West. + +CHAPTER TWO. + +TEMPORARY DELAY THROUGH ELEMENTS AND PIRATES. + +But it is not our purpose to inflict the entire log of that voyage on +our reader, adventurous though the voyage was. Matter of much greater +importance claims our regard. Still it would be unjust to our voyagers +to pass it over in absolute silence. + +At the very commencement of it, there occurred one of those incidents to +which all voyagers are more or less subject. A gale arose the very +evening of the day on which they left port, which all but swamped the +little vessel, and the violence of the wind was so great that their huge +sail was split from top to bottom. In spite of the darkness and the +confusion that ensued, Captain Arkal, by his prompt action and skilful +management, saved the vessel from immediate destruction. Fortunately +the gale did not last long, and, during the calm that followed, the rent +was repaired and the sail re-set. + +Then occurred another incident that threatened to cut short the voyage +even more disastrously than by swamping. + +The sea over which they steered swarmed with pirates at the time we +write of, as it continued to swarm during many centuries after. +Merchantmen, fully aware of the fact, were in those days also men of +war. They went forth on their voyages fully armed with sword, javelin, +and shield, as well as with the simple artillery of the period--bows and +arrows, slings and stones. + +On the afternoon of the day that followed the gale, the vessel--which +her captain and owner had named the _Penelope_ in honour of his wife-- +was running before a light breeze, along the coast of one of the islands +with which that sea is studded. + +Bladud and some of the crew were listening at the time to an account +given by a small seaman named Maikar, of a recent adventure on the sea, +when a galley about as large as their own was seen to shoot suddenly +from the mouth of a cavern in the cliffs in which it had lain concealed. +It was double-banked and full of armed men, and was rowed in such a way +as to cut in advance of the _Penelope_. The vigour with which the oars +were plied, and the rapidity with which the sail was run up, left no +doubt as to the nature of the craft or the intentions of those who +manned it. + +"The rascals!" growled Arkal with a dark frown, "I more than half +expected to find them here." + +"Pirates, I suppose?" said Bladud. + +"Ay--and not much chance of escaping them. Give another haul on the +sail-rope, mate, and pull, men, pull, if you would save your liberty-- +for these brutes have no mercy." + +The sail was tightened up a few inches, and the vessel was put more +directly before the wind. The way in which the slaves bent to the oars +showed that the poor fellows fully understood the situation. + +For a few minutes Captain Arkal watched the result in stern silence. +Then, with an unwonted look and tone of bitterness, he said in a low +voice-- + +"No--I thought as much. She sails faster than we do. Now, friend +Bladud, you shall presently have a chance of proving whether your royal +blood is better than that of other men." + +To this remark the prince made no other reply than by a good-natured +smile as he took up the bronze helmet which lay beside his sword on the +thwart and placed it on his head. + +Captain Arkal regarded him with a sort of grim satisfaction as he +followed up the action by buckling on his sword. + +The sword in question was noteworthy. It was a single-handed weapon of +iron, made in Egypt, to suit the size and strength of its owner, and was +large enough to have served as a two-handed sword for most men. + +"You can throw a javelin, no doubt?" asked the captain, as he watched +the young man's leisurely preparations for the expected combat. + +"Yes, I have practised throwing the spear a good deal--both in peace and +war." + +"Good. I have got one here that will suit you. It belonged to my +grandfather, who was a stout man, and made powerful play with it during +a neighbouring tribe's raid--when I was a baby--to the discomfort, I +have been told, and surprise of his foes. I always keep it by me for +luck, and have myself used it on occasion, though I prefer a lighter one +for ordinary use. Here it is--a pretty weapon," he continued, drawing a +javelin of gigantic proportions from under the gunwale and handing it to +Bladud. "But we must proceed with caution in this matter. Take off +your helmet at present, and try to look frightened if you can." + +"I fear me that will be difficult, captain." + +"Not in the least. Look here, nothing is easier when you get used to +it." + +As he spoke Arkal caused his stern visage to relax into a look of such +amiable sheepishness that Bladud could not repress a sudden laugh which +recalled and intensified the captain's fierce expression instantly. + +"Learn to subdue yourself, young man," he muttered sternly. "If these +pirates hear laughter, do you think they can be made to believe we are +afraid of them?" + +"Forgive me, captain; if you had seen your own face, you would have +joined in the laugh. I will be more careful. But how do you mean to +proceed, and what do you wish me to do?" + +Captain Arkal, who was restored to good-humour by this compliment to his +power of expression, as well as by the modesty with which the prince +received his rebuke, explained his intentions--in low, earnest tones, +however, for they were by that time drawing near to the piratical craft. + +Having got well ahead of the _Penelope_, it had backed its sail and lay +still, awaiting her coming up. + +"Creep to the bow, Bladud, with your helmet off, and show as little of +your bulk as may be. Show only your head above the bulwarks, and look +as miserable as I did just now--more so if you can. Take your sword, +javelin, and shield with you. I need say no more to a man of war. Use +them when you see your opportunity." + +Bladud received his orders in silence, and obeyed them with that +unquestioning and unhesitating promptitude which is one of the surest +evidences of fitness to command. Meanwhile the mate, who was accustomed +to his captain's habits, and needed no instructions, had caused the +sailors to lay their shields and swords out of sight at their feet, so +that they might approach the pirates in the character of simple traders +who were completely cowed by the appearance of the foe. To increase +this aspect of fear, the sail was lowered as they drew near, and the +oars were used to complete the distance that yet intervened between the +two vessels. + +This humble and submissive approach did not, however, throw the pirates +quite off their guard. They stood to their arms and prepared to spring +on board their victim when close enough. As the pirate vessel lay +motionless on the water she presented her broadside to the trader. The +captain took care to steer so that this relative position should be +maintained. The pirate chief, a huge man in rude armour, with a +breast-plate of thick bull-hide and a shield of the same on his left +arm, gave orders to pull the oars on one side of his vessel so that the +two might be brought alongside. + +They were about fifty yards apart at the moment. Before the order could +be carried into effect, however, Arkal uttered a low hiss. Instantly +the double banks of oars bent almost to the breaking point, and the +_Penelope_ leaped forward like a sentient creature. Each man seized +sword and shield and sprang up, and Bladud, forgetting both helmet and +shield in the hurry of the moment, poised the mighty javelin which had +so astonished its owner's enemies in days gone by, and in another moment +hurled it shrieking through the air. It flew straight as a thunderbolt +at the pirate chief; pierced through shield and breastplate, and came +out at his back, sending him headlong into the arms of his horrified +crew. + +The whole incident was so sudden that the pirates had scarcely time to +recover from their surprise when the bow of the _Penelope_ crashed into +the side of their vessel and stove it in, for the trader, like some of +the war-vessels of the period, was provided with a ram for this very +purpose. + +As the _Penelope_ recoiled from the shock, a yell of rage burst from the +pirates, and a volley of javelins and stones followed, but, owing to the +confusion resulting from the shock, these were ill-directed, and such of +them as found their mark were caught on the shields. Before another +discharge could be made, the pirate vessel heeled over and sank, leaving +her crew of miscreants struggling in the sea. Some of them--being, +strange to say, unable to swim--were drowned. Others were killed in the +water, while a few, taking their swords in their teeth, swam to the +trader and made desperate attempts to climb on board. Of course they +failed, and in a few minutes nothing remained of the pirate vessel to +tell of the tragedy that had been enacted, except an oar or two and a +few spars left floating on the sea. + +"Would that all the sea-robbers in these parts could be as easily and +thoroughly disposed of," remarked the captain, as he gave orders to +re-hoist the sail. "Ho! Bladud, my worthy prince, come aft here. What +detains you?" + +But Bladud did not answer to the call. A stone from the enemy had +fallen on his defenceless head and knocked him down insensible. + +Four of the men now raised him up. As they did so, one of the men--the +small seaman, Maikar--was found underneath him in a state of +semi-consciousness. While they carried Bladud aft, the little sailor +began to gasp and sneeze. + +"Not killed, I see," remarked the mate, looking into his face with some +anxiety. + +"No, not quite," sighed Maikar, drawing a long breath, and raising +himself on one elbow, with a slightly dazed look, "but I never was so +nearly burst in all my life. If an ox had fallen on me he could not +have squeezed me flatter. Do, two of you, squeeze me the other way, to +open me out a little; there's no room in me left to breathe--scarcely +room to think." + +"Oh! your battles are not yet over, I see," said the mate, going off to +the stern of the vessel, where he found Bladud just recovering +consciousness and smiling at the remarks of the captain, who busied +himself in stanching the wound, just over his frontal bone, from which +blood was flowing freely. + +"H'm! this comes of sheer recklessness. I told you to take off your +helmet, but I did not tell you to keep it off. Man, you launched that +javelin well!--better than I could have done it myself. Indeed, I doubt +if my old grandfather could have done it with such telling effect-- +straight through and through. I saw full a hand-breadth come out at the +villain's back. What say you, mate? Little Maikar wounded?" + +"No, not wounded, but nearly burst, as he says himself; and no wonder, +for Bladud fell upon him." + +"Didn't I tell you, mate," said the captain, looking up with a grin, +"that nothing will kill little Maikar? Go to, man, you pretend to be a +judge of men; yet you grumbled at me for engaging him as one of our +crew. Do you feel better now, prince?" + +"Ay, greatly better, thank you," replied Bladud, putting his hand gently +on the bandages with which the captain had skilfully bound his head. + +"That is well. I think, now, that food will do you service. What say +you?" + +"Nay, with your leave, I prefer sleep," said the prince, stretching +himself out on the deck. "A little rest will suffice, for my head is +noted for its thickness, and my brain for its solidity--at least so my +good father was wont to say; and I've always had great respect for his +opinion." + +"Ah, save when it ran counter to your own," suggested Arkal; "and +especially that time when you ran away from home and came out here in +the long ship of my trading friend." + +"I have regretted that many a time since then, and I am now returning +home to offer submission." + +"D'you think that he'll forgive you?" + +"I am sure he will, for he is a kind man; and I know he loves me, though +he has never said so." + +"I should like to know that father of yours. I like your description of +him--so stern of face, yet so kind of heart, and with such an +unchangeable will when he sees what is right. But what _is_ right, and +what is wrong?" + +"Ay--what is--who can tell? Some people believe that the gods make +their will known to man through the Delphic Oracle." + +"Boh!" exclaimed the captain with a look of supreme contempt. + +The turn of thought silenced both speakers for a time; and when Captain +Arkal turned to resume the conversation, he found that his friend was +sound asleep. + +CHAPTER THREE. + +ON THE VOYAGE. + +Weather has always been, and, we suppose, always will be, capricious. +Its uncertainty of character--in the Levant, as in the Atlantic, in days +of old as now, was always the same--smiling to-day; frowning to-morrow; +playful as a lamb one day; raging like a lion the next. + +After the rough handling experienced by the _Penelope_ at the beginning +of her voyage, rude Boreas kindly retired, and spicy breezes from Africa +rippled the sea with just sufficient force to intensify its heavenly +blue, and fill out the great square-sail so that there was no occasion +to ply the oars. One dark, starlight but moonless night, a time of +quiet talk prevailed from stem to stern of the vessel as the grizzled +mariners spun long yarns of their prowess and experiences on the deep, +for the benefit of awe-stricken and youthful shipmates whose careers +were only commencing. + +"You've heard, no doubt, of the great sea-serpent?" observed little +Maikar, who had speedily recovered from the flattening to which Bladud +had subjected him, and was busy enlivening a knot of young fellows in +the bow of the ship. + +"Of course we have!" cried one; "father used to tell me about it when I +was but a small boy. He never saw it himself, though he had been to the +Tin Isles and Albion more than once; but he said he had met with men who +had spoken with shipmates who had heard of it from men who had seen it +only a few days before, and who described it exactly." + +"Ah!" remarked another, "but I have met a man who had seen it himself on +his first voyage, when he was quite a youth; and he said it had a bull's +head and horns, with a dreadful long body all over scales, and something +like an ass's tail at the end." + +"Pooh!--nonsense!" exclaimed little Maikar, twirling his thumbs, for +smoking had not been introduced into the world at that period--and +thumb-twirling would seem to have served the ancient world for leisurely +pastime quite as well, if not better--at least we are led to infer so +from the fact that Herodotus makes no mention of anything like a vague, +mysterious sensation of unsatisfied desire to fill the mouth with smoke +in those early ages, which he would certainly have done had the taste +for smoke been a natural craving, and thumb-twirling an unsatisfactory +occupation. This absolute silence of the "Father of History," we think, +almost proves our point. "Nonsense!" repeated little Maikar. "The +youth of the man who told you about the serpent accounts for his wild +description, for youth is prone to strange imaginings and--" + +"It seems to me," interrupted a grave man, who twirled his thumbs in +that slow, deliberate way in which a contemplative man smokes--"it seems +to me that there's no more truth about the great sea-serpent than there +is about the golden fleece. I don't believe in either of them." + +"Don't you? Well, all I can say is," returned the little man, gazing +fixedly in the grave comrade's face, "that I saw the great sea-serpent +with my own eyes!" + +"No! did you?" exclaimed the group, drawing their heads closer together +with looks of expectancy. + +"Ay, that did I, mates; but you mustn't expect wild descriptions about +monsters with bulls' horns and asses' tails from me. I like truth, and +the truth is, that the brute was so far away at the time we saw it, that +not a man of us could tell exactly what it was like, and when we tried +the description, we were all so different, that we gave it up; but we +were all agreed on this point, that it certainly _was_ the serpent." + +The listeners seemed rather disappointed at this meagre account and +sudden conclusion of what had bidden fair to become a stirring tale of +the sea; but Maikar re-aroused their expectations by stating his firm +belief that it was all nonsense about there being only one sea-serpent. + +"Why, how could there be only one?" he demanded, ceasing to twirl, in +order that he might clench his fist and smite his knee with emphasis. +"Haven't you got a grandfather?" he asked, turning suddenly to the grave +man. + +"Certainly, I've got two of them if you come to that," he answered, +taken rather aback by the brusque and apparently irrelevant nature of +the question. + +"Just so--two of them," repeated the little man, "and don't you think it +likely that the sea serpent must have had two grandfathers also?" + +"Undoubtedly--and two grandmothers as well. Perhaps he's got them yet," +replied the grave man with a contemplative look over the side, where the +rippling sea gleamed with phosphoric brilliancy. + +"Exactly so," continued Maikar in an eager tone, "and of course these +also must have had two grandfathers besides a mother each, and it is +more than likely that the great sea-serpent himself is the father of a +large family." + +"Which implies a wife," suggested one of the seamen. + +"Not necessarily," objected an elderly seaman, who had once been to the +lands lying far to the north of Albion, and had acquired something of +that tendency to object to everything at all times which is said to +characterise the people of the far North. "Not necessarily," he +repeated, "for the serpent may be a bachelor with no family at all." + +There was a short laugh at this, and an illogical man of the group made +some irrelevant observation which led the conversation into a totally +different channel, and relegated the great sea-serpent, for the time +being, to oblivion! + +While the men were thus engaged philosophising in the bow, Bladud and +the captain were chatting in subdued voices in the stern. + +"It is impossible," said the latter, in reply to a remark made by the +former, "it is impossible for me to visit your father's court this year, +though it would please me much to do so, but my cargo is intended for +the south-western Cassiterides. To get round to the river on the banks +of which your home stands would oblige me to run far towards the cold +regions, into waters which I have not yet visited--though I know them +pretty well by hearsay. On another voyage I may accomplish it, but not +on this one." + +"I am sorry for that, Arkal, because things that are put off to another +time are often put off altogether. But the men of the Tin Isles often +visit my father's town in their boats with copper and tin, and there are +tracks through the forest which horses can traverse. Could you not +visit us overland? It would not be a journey of many weeks, and your +trusty mate might look after the ship in your absence. Besides, the +diggers may not have enough of the metal ready to fill your ship, so you +may be idle a long time. What say you?" + +Captain Arkal frowned, as was his wont when considering a knotty +question, and shook his head. + +"I doubt if I should be wise to venture so much," he said; "moreover, we +are not yet at the end of our voyage. It is of little use troubling +one's-self about the end of anything while we are only at the +beginning." + +"Nevertheless," rejoined Bladud, "to consider the possible end while yet +at the beginning, seems not unreasonable, though, undoubtedly, we may +never reach the end. Many a fair ship sets sail and never returns." + +"Ay, that is true, as I know to my cost," returned the captain, "for +this is not my first venture. A long time ago I loaded a ship about the +size of this one, and sent her under command of one of my best friends +to the Euxine sea for gold. I now think that that old story about Jason +and his ship _Argo_ sailing in search of the golden fleece was running +too strong in my youthful brain. Besides that, of course I had heard +the report that there is much gold in that direction, and my hopes were +strong, for you know all the world runs after gold. Anyhow, my ship +sailed and I never saw her or my friend again. Since then I have +contented myself with copper and tin." + +A slight increase in the wind at that moment caused the captain to +dismiss his golden and other memories, and look inquiringly to windward. + +"A squall, methinks?" said Bladud. + +"No, only a puff," replied his friend, ordering the steersman to alter +the course a little. + +The squall or puff was only strong enough to cause the _Penelope_ to +make a graceful bow to the controlling element and cleave the sparkling +water with her prow so swiftly that she left a gleaming wake as of +lambent fire astern. It was short-lived, however, and was followed by a +calm which obliged little Maikar and his comrades to cease their +story-telling and ply their fifty oars. Thus the pace was kept going, +though not quite so swiftly as if they were running before a stiff +breeze. + +"The gods are propitious," said the captain; "we are going to have a +prosperous voyage." + +"How many gods are propitious?" asked Bladud. + +"That is a question much too deep for me to answer." + +"But not too deep to think of--is it?" + +"Of what use would be my thinking?" returned the captain, lightly. "I +leave such matters to the learned." + +"Now, mate," he added, turning to his subordinate, "I'm going to rest a +while. See that you keep an open eye for squalls and pirates. Both are +apt to come down on you when you least expect them." + +But neither squalls nor pirates were destined to interfere with the +_Penelope_ during the greater part of that voyage. Day after day the +skies were clear, the sea comparatively smooth, and the winds +favourable. Sometimes they put ashore, when the weather became stormy +and circumstances were favourable. On such occasions they lighted +camp-fires under the trees, the ruddy light of which glowed with a grand +effect on the picturesque sailors as they sat, stood, or reclined around +them. + +At other times they were obliged to keep more in the open sea, and +occasionally met with traders like themselves returning home, with whom, +of course, they were glad to fraternise for a time and exchange views. + +Once only did they meet with anything like a piratical vessel, but as +that happened to be late in the evening, they managed, by plying the +oars vigorously, and under the shade of night, to escape a second +encounter with those robbers of the sea. + +Thus, in course of time, the length of the great inland sea was +traversed, the southern coast of what is now known as France was +reached, and the captain's prophecy with regard to a prosperous voyage +was thus far fulfilled. + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE STORM AND WRECK. + +It was near daybreak on the morning of a night of unclouded splendour +when the mate of the _Penelope_ aroused his chief with the information +that appearances to windward betokened a change of some sort in the +weather. + +"If there is a change at all it must be for the worse," said Arkal, +raising himself on one elbow, rubbing his eyes, yawning, and then +casting a glance over the side where the rippling foam told that the +wind was increasing. Raising his eyes to the windward horizon, he threw +aside the sheepskin blanket that covered him and rose up quickly. + +"There is indeed a change coming. Rouse the men and reduce the sail, +mate. Bestir you! The squalls are sudden here." + +The orders were obeyed with promptitude. In a few minutes the sail was +reduced to its smallest size, and all loose articles about the vessel +were made fast. + +"You expect a gale, captain?" asked Bladud, who was aroused by the noise +of the preparations. + +"Ay--or something like one. When a cloud like that rises up on the +horizon there is usually something more than a puff coming. You had +better keep well under the lee of the bulwarks when it strikes us." + +Bladud's nautical experience had already taught him what to expect and +how to act in the circumstance that threatened. Standing close to the +side of the ship, he laid hold of a stanchion and looked out to +windward, as most of the crew were by that time doing. Captain Arkal +himself took the helm. + +The increasing daylight showed them that the bank of cloud was spreading +quickly over the sky towards the zenith, while a soft hissing sound told +of the approaching wind. Soon the blackness on the sea intensified, and +white gleams as of flashing light showed where the waves were torn into +foam by the rushing wind. + +With a warning to "hold on fast!" the captain turned the vessel's head +so as to meet the blast. So fierce was it that it cut off the crests of +the wavelets, blowing the sea almost flat for a time, and producing what +is known as a white squall. The sail was kept fluttering until the fury +of the onset was over, then the wind was allowed to fill it; the +_Penelope_ bent down until the sea began to bubble over the lee +bulwarks, and in a few moments more she was springing over the fast +rising waves like a nautical racehorse. + +Every moment the gale increased, obliging the mariners to show but a +corner of the sail. Even this had at last to be taken in, and, during +the whole of that dismal day and of the black night which followed, the +_Penelope_ drove helplessly before the wind under a bare pole. +Fortunately the gale was favourable, so that they were enabled to lay +their course, but it required all the skill and seamanship of Captain +Arkal to prevent their being pooped and swamped by the waves that rolled +hissing after them as if hungering mightily to swallow them up. + +To have the right man in the right place at such times of imminent +danger is all-important, not only to the safety of the craft, but to the +peace of mind of those whose lives are in jeopardy. All on board the +little vessel during that hurricane felt much comforted by the knowledge +that their captain was in the right place. Although a "square man," he +had by no means been fitted into a round hole! Knowing this, Prince +Bladud felt no anxiety as to the management of the craft, and gave +himself up to contemplate the grandeur of the storm, for the howling +blast, creaking spars, and bursts of rattling thunder, rendered +conversation out of the question. + +During a slight lull, however, Bladud asked the question whether the +captain knew on what part of the coast they were running. + +"Not exactly," he replied, "we have been running so long in darkness +that I can only guess. If it holds on much longer like this I shall +have to put her head to wind and wait for more light. It may be that we +have been driven too far to the left, and there are islands hereabouts +that we must keep well clear of. I would that we had put into some bay +for shelter before this befell us. Ho! mate." + +"Ay, captain." + +"See that you put our sharpest pair of eyes in the bow, and let a second +pair watch the first, lest the owner of them should go to sleep." + +"Little Maikar is there, sir," shouted the mate, "and I am watching him +myself." + +"We shall do well with Maikar in the bow, for he sees like a weasel, and +is trustworthy," muttered the captain as he glanced uneasily over the +stern, where the hungry waves were still hissing tumultuously after +them, as if rendered furious by the delayed meal. + +At daybreak on the second day the gale moderated a little, and they were +enabled once more to show a corner of their sail, and to encourage the +hope that the worst was over. But a fresh outburst, of greater fury +than before, soon dashed these hopes, and obliged the captain to throw +overboard all the spare spars and some of the heaviest part of the +cargo. Still the gale increased, and the impatient waves began to lip +over the poop occasionally as if unable to refrain from tasting! + +"More cargo must go," muttered the captain, with a gloomy frown. Being +resolute, he gave orders to that effect. + +Presently the order was given to take soundings. When this was done it +was found that they were in twenty fathoms water. On taking another +cast, the depth reported was fifteen fathoms. + +There were no charts covered with soundings to guide the mariner in +those days, but it did not require much experience to convince a seaman +that land was probably too near, with such a sudden change from twenty +to fifteen fathoms. Arkal was, however, not unprepared for it, and +quickly gave orders to stand by to let go the anchors. At that moment +the voice of little Maikar was heard shouting, in stentorian tones, +"Land ahead!" + +The captain replied with a sharp "let go!" and four anchors were +promptly dropped from the stern. At the same moment he placed the helm +fair amidships, and made it fast with rudder-bands. As the stern of the +_Penelope_ was formed like the bow, a sharp cut-water was by this means +instantly presented to the sea, thus avoiding the necessity and danger +incurred by modern ships, in similar circumstances, of anchoring by the +head and swinging round. + +The hungry waves hissed tumultuously on, but were cleft and passed under +the ship disappointed, for there was still enough of water beneath to +permit of her tossing to and fro and rising to them like a duck, as she +strained and tugged at the anchors. + +Just as these operations had been performed, the mists of darkness +seemed to lift a little and revealed a wild rocky line of coast, against +which the waves were breaking madly. + +"Now all hope is over; pray to your gods, men," said the mate, whose +courage was not quite equal to his position. + +"There are no gods!" growled the captain bitterly, for he saw that he +was now a ruined man, even though he should escape with life. + +"There is _one_ God," said Bladud quietly, "and He does all things +well." + +As he spoke, the captain, whose eyes had not ceased to look searchingly +along the coast, observed something like a bay a short way to the left +of the place where they lay. + +"It looks like a sandy bay," he said. + +"It _is_ a sandy bay," exclaimed the anxious mate; "let us up anchors +and run into it." + +"Have an easy mind and keep your advice till asked for," returned the +captain with a look of scorn. "If we are destined to escape, we _shall_ +escape without making haste. If we are doomed to die, nothing can save +us, and it is more manly to die in a leisurely way than in a hurry. +When we can see clearly we shall know better how to act." + +Although this manner of submitting to the inevitable did not quite suit +the mate, he felt constrained to repress his impatience, while the +coolness of the captain had a quieting effect on some of the men who +were inclined to give way to panic. The sight of Bladud--as he sat +there leaning on the hilt of his sword with an expression of what +appeared to be serene contentment--had also a quieting effect on the +men. + +When the increasing light showed that the sandy bay was a spot that +might possibly be reached in safety, orders were given to cut the +cables, loose the rudder-bands and hoist the sail. For a few minutes +the vessel ran swiftly towards the bay, but before reaching the shore +she struck with violence. The fore part of the _Penelope_ stuck fast +immovably, and then, at last, the ravenous waves attained their +longed-for meal. They burst over the stern, swept the decks, tore up +the fastenings, revelled among the tackling and began tumultuously to +break up the ship. + +"Launch the skiff," shouted the captain, hastening to lend a hand in the +operation. + +The men were not slow to obey, and when it touched the water they +swarmed into it, so that, being overloaded, it upset and left its +occupants struggling in the water. A number of the men who could swim, +immediately jumped overboard and tried to right the skiff, but they +failed, and, in the effort to do so, broke the rope that held it. Some +clung to it. Others turned and swam for the shore. + +A good many of the men, however, still remained in the wreck, which was +fast breaking up. To these the captain turned. + +"Now, men," he said, "those of you who can swim would do well to take to +the water at once, for it is clear that we shall not have a plank left +to stand on soon. Come, mate, show them an example." + +The man, though not very courageous, as his pale face betrayed, happened +to be a good swimmer, and at once leaped into the sea. He was followed +by all who could swim. Those who could not, were encouraged to make the +attempt with planks and oars to aid them. As for Bladud, he busied +himself like the captain in giving heart to the non-swimmers and showing +them how best to use their floats. + +The last of the men to leave was little Maikar. + +He stood at the bow with his arms crossed on his chest and a look of +melancholy interest on his countenance. + +"What! not gone yet?" exclaimed the captain, turning to him. + +"I cannot swim," said the man. + +"But neither can these," returned the captain, pointing to the men who +had left last. + +"My father used to say," rejoined Maikar, as if murmuring to himself, +"that I was born to be drowned, and I'm inclined to think he was right." + +"Surely you are not afraid," said Arkal. + +"Afraid!" exclaimed Maikar, with a sarcastic laugh. "No, captain, but +I'm sorry to part with you, because you've been a good captain to me." + +"An' I bear no ill-will to you, Bladud, though you _did_ squeeze most of +the life out of me once. Farewell, both." + +As he spoke the little man seized an oar, leaped overboard, and, after +some trouble in steadying himself and pointing the oar in the right +direction, struck out for the shore. + +It was a long way off, and often, while this scene was being enacted, +was heard the bubbling cry of men whose powers were failing them. Some +were carried by currents against a point to the westward and, +apparently, dashed against the rocks. Others sank before half the +distance had been traversed. + +Bladud and the captain looked at each other when Maikar had left them. + +"Can you swim?" asked the captain. "Like a duck," returned the prince, +"and I can help you if required." + +"I swim like a fish," returned the captain, "but it is hard to part from +my _Penelope_! She has never failed me till now, and as this venture +contains all my goods, I am a ruined man." + +"But your life still remains," said the prince. "Be of good cheer, +captain. A stout man can make his fortune more than once. Come, let us +go." + +A loud cry from Maikar at that moment hastened their deliberations. + +"Are you going to cumber yourself with your weapons?" asked Arkal, as +they were about to spring from the side, observing that his friend took +up his sword and shield. + +"Ay--that am I. It is not a small matter that will part my good sword +and me." + +Both men sprang overboard at the same moment, and made for the spot +where little Maikar was still giving vent to bubbling yells and +struggling with his oar. + +Bladud was soon alongside of him, and, seizing his hair, raised him out +of the water. + +"Got the cramp," he shouted. + +"Keep still, then, and do what I tell ye," said the prince, in a tone of +stern command. + +He caught the poor man under the armpits with both hands, turned on his +back and drew him on to his chest. Swimming thus on his back, with +Captain Arkal leading so as to keep them in the right direction, the +three were ultimately cast, in a rather exhausted condition, on the +shore of the little bay. + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +AFTER THE WRECK. + +It was on the southern shore of what is now known as France that our +hero and his comrades in misfortune were cast. + +At the time we write of, we need hardly say, the land was nameless. +Even her old Roman name of Gaul had not yet been given to her, for Rome +itself had not been founded. The fair land was a vast wilderness, known +only--and but slightly--to the adventurous mariners of the east, who, +with the spirit of Columbus, had pushed their discoveries and trade far +beyond the Pillars of Hercules. + +Of course the land was a vast solitude, inhabited, sparsely, by a few of +those wandering tribes which had been driven westward--by conquest or by +that desire for adventure which has characterised the human race, we +suppose, ever since Adam and Eve began to explore the regions beyond +Eden. Like the great wilderness lying to the north of Canada at the +present time, it was also the home of innumerable wild animals which +afforded to its uncivilised inhabitants both food and clothing. + +Captain Arkal was the only one of the three survivors of the wreck who +had seen that coast before or knew anything about it, for, when Bladud +had entered the Mediterranean many years before, he had passed too far +to the southward to see the northern land. + +As they staggered up the beach to a place where the thundering waves +sent only their spray, Bladud looked round with some anxiety. + +"Surely," he said, "some of the crew must have escaped. It can hardly +be that we three are the only survivors out of so many." + +The party halted and looked back at the seething waves from which they +had just escaped. + +"It would be foul shame to us," said the captain, "if we did not try to +lend a helping hand to our comrades; but we shall find none of them +here. I observed when they started that, in spite of my warning, they +made straight for the land, instead of keeping well to windward to avoid +being swept round that point of rock to the west. I led you in the +right direction, and that is why we alone are here. If any of the +others have been saved, they must be on the other side of that point." + +While he was speaking, the captain had hurried into the woods, intending +to cross the neck of land which separated them from the bay beyond the +point referred to. + +Their strength returned as they ran, for their intense desire to render +aid to those of their late comrades who might stand in need of it seemed +to serve them in the stead of rest. + +"Come, quick!" cried little Maikar, whose catlike activity and strength +enabled him to outrun his more bulky companions. "We may be too late; +and some of them can't swim--I know." + +They reached the crest of a ridge a few minutes later, and, halting, +looked at each other in dismay, for the bay beyond the point was full of +great rocks and boulders, among which the waves rushed with such fury +that they spouted in jets into the air, and covered the sea with foam. + +"No living soul can have landed there," said the captain, in a tone that +showed clearly he had given up all hope. + +"But some may have been swept round the next point," suggested Maikar +eagerly, commencing to run forward as he spoke. + +Bladud followed at once, and so did the captain, but it was evident that +he regarded any further effort as useless. + +It proved a longer and more toilsome march than they had expected to +pass beyond the second point, and when at last it was reached, there was +not a speck at all resembling a human being to be seen on the coast, in +all its length of many miles. + +"No hope," murmured Bladud. + +"None," returned the captain. + +Little Maikar did not speak, but the expression of his countenance +showed that he was of the same opinion. + +"Now," resumed the captain, after a brief silence, "if we would not +starve we must go straight back, and see whether any provisions have +been washed ashore." + +They did not, however, return to the spot where they had landed, for +they knew that the same current which had carried their hapless comrades +to the westward must have borne the remains of the wreck in the same +direction. Descending, therefore, to the foam-covered bay before +referred to, they searched its margin carefully, but for some time found +nothing--not even a scrap of wreck. + +At last, just as they were about to give up in despair, and turn to some +other method of obtaining food, they observed a portion of the wreck +that had been driven high up on the beach into a cleft of rock. Running +eagerly towards it, they found that it was only a plank. + +Bladud and the captain looked at it for a moment or two in silence, and +Maikar gave vent to a groan of disappointment. + +"Never mind," said the prince, lifting the plank and laying it on his +shoulder, in the quiet thoughtful way that was peculiar to him, "it will +serve to make a fire and keep us warm." + +"But we need not to be kept warm, for the weather is fine and hot," said +Maikar, with a rueful expression. "Moreover, we need food, and we +cannot eat a plank!" + +The prince did not reply, but led the way towards a neighbouring cliff. + +"Don't you think we had better make our fire in the woods, Bladud?" +asked the captain. + +"That would oblige one of us to watch in case natives or wolves should +attack us, and none of us are in a fit state to watch. We must sleep." + +"But I can't sleep without first eating," said Maikar in a remonstrative +tone. "Should we not go to the woods first and try to catch something?" + +"Can you on foot run down the hare, the deer, the bear, the wild-boar, +or even the rabbit?" + +"Not I. My legs are swift enough, though short, but they are not equal +to that." + +"Well, then, as we have neither bow nor shaft, and my good sword would +be of little use against such game, why waste our time and strength in +the woods?" + +"But we might find honey," suggested Maikar. + +"And if we did not find honey, what then?" + +"Berries," answered the little man. + +"Berries are not nearly ripe yet." + +"True, I forgot that." + +"Say you did not know it, man," interposed the captain with a laugh; +"never be ashamed of confessing ignorance in regard to things that +you're not bound to know. Lead on, Bladud, we will follow. You know +more of woodcraft than either of us. If it were the sea we had to do +battle with I would claim to lead. On land, being only a babe, I freely +resign the helm to one who knows how to steer." + +Agreeing to this arrangement, Bladud led his companions up the steep +face of a cliff until a projecting ledge was reached, which was just +wide enough to form a camping-ground with a perpendicular cliff at the +back, and with its other sides so precipitous as to render the approach +of enemies--whether two or four-legged--exceedingly difficult. By +piling a few stones at the head of the path by which it was reached, +they rendered it impossible for any one to approach without awakening +the sleepers. + +Bladud then, using his sword as a hatchet, chipped off some pieces of +the plank, and directed his companions to cut away the wet parts of +these and reduce the dry parts to shavings. + +They obeyed this order in silence, and wonderingly, for a fire seemed +useless, their encampment being well sheltered from the wind, and, as we +have said, the weather was warm. By means of a cord, a rude bow, and a +drill made of a piece of dry wood, their leader soon procured fire, and, +in a few minutes, a bright flame illumined their persons and the cliff +behind them. + +As the shades of evening were falling by that time, the aspect of things +was much improved by the change. + +"Now, comrades," said the prince, undoing the breast of his tunic, and +drawing from either side a flat mass of dark substance that resembled +old dried cow-hide, "we shall have supper, and then--to rest." + +"Dried meat!" exclaimed little Maikar, his eyes--and indeed his whole +visage--blazing with delighted surprise. + +"Right. Maikar. I knew that you would be hungry when we got ashore, so +I caught up two pieces of meat and stuffed them into my breast just as +we were leaving--one for Arkal and me; the other for you. It may not be +quite enough, perhaps, but will do, I hope, to keep you quiet till +morning." + +"Nay, I shall content me with my fair share, it I may claim a share at +all of what I had no hand in procuring. It was wise of you to do this. +How came you to think of it?" + +"To say truth, I can lay claim to neither wisdom nor forethought," +answered the prince, dividing the food into equal portions. "The meat +chanced to be lying close to my hand as I was about to leap into the +sea. Had I seen it sooner, I would have advised all to take some in the +same way. There, now, set to and cook it. For myself, I feel so sleepy +that I'm half inclined to eat it raw." + +The jerked or dried meat which had been thus opportunely brought away, +may be said to have been half cooked in the drying process, and indeed, +was sometimes eaten in its dried condition, when it was inconvenient to +cook it. In a few minutes, therefore, the supper was ready, and, in a +few minutes more, it was disposed of--for strong jaws, sound teeth and +good appetite make short work of victuals. + +By that time the night had set in; the gale was moderating; the stars +had come out, and there seemed every prospect of a speedy and favourable +change in the weather. With darkness came the wolves and other +creatures of the night, both furred and feathered. Against the former +the party was protected by the steep ascent and the barricade, but the +latter kept swooping down out of darkness, ever and anon, glaring at +them for a moment with round inquiring eyes and sweeping off, as if +affrighted, in unearthly silence. + +Little heed was paid to these sights and sounds, however, by our +adventurers, who were filled with sadness at the loss of their ship and +comrades. + +They spoke but little during the meal, and, after partially drying +themselves, lay down with their feet towards the fire, and almost +instantly fell asleep. Being trained to a hardy life, they did not feel +the want of couch or covering, and healthy exhaustion prevented dreams +from disturbing their repose. + +Gradually the fire died down; the howling of the wolves ceased; the +night-birds betook them to their haunts, and no sound was heard in or +around the camp except the soft breathing of the sleepers and the +booming of the distant waves. + +CHAPTER SIX. + +FIRST ANXIETIES AND TROUBLES. + +The day that followed the wreck was well advanced before the sleepers +awakened. + +Their first thoughts were those of thankfulness for having escaped with +life. Then arose feelings of loneliness and sorrow at the sad fate of +the crew of the _Penelope_, for though it was just possible that some of +their comrades had reached the shore on the beach that extended to the +westward, such an event was not very probable. Still the bare hope of +this induced them to rise in haste. After a hurried breakfast on the +remnants of the previous night's supper, they proceeded along the coast +for several miles, carefully searching the shores of every bay. + +About noon they halted. A few scraps of the dried meat still remained, +and on these they dined, sitting on a grassy slope, while they consulted +as to their future proceedings. + +"What is now to be done?" asked the captain of Bladud, after they had +been seated in silence for some minutes. + +"I would rather hear your opinion first," returned his friend. "You +must still continue to act as captain, for it is fitting that age should +sit at the helm, while I will act the part of guide and forester, seeing +that I am somewhat accustomed to woodcraft." + +"And the remainder of our band," said little Maikar, wiping his mouth +after finishing the last morsel, "will sit in judgment on your +deliberations." + +"Be it so," returned Bladud. "Wisdom, it is said, lies in small +compass, so we should find it in you." + +Captain Arkal, whose knitted brows and downcast eyes showed that his +thoughts were busy, looked up suddenly. + +"It is not likely," he said, "that any ships will come near this coast, +for the gale has driven us far out of the usual track of trading ships, +and there are no towns here, large or small, that I know of. It would +be useless, therefore, to remain where we are in the hope of being +picked up by a passing vessel. To walk back to our home in the east is +next to impossible, for it is not only far distant, but there lie +between us and Hellas far-reaching gulfs and bays, besides great +mountain ranges, which have never yet been crossed, for their tops are +in the clouds and covered, summer and winter, with eternal snow." + +"Then no hope remains to us," said Maikar, with a sigh, "except to join +ourselves to the wild people of the land--if there be any people at all +in it--and live and die like savages." + +"Patience, Maikar, I have not yet finished." + +"Besides," interpolated Bladud, "a wise judge never delivers an opinion +until he has heard both sides of a question." + +"Now, from my knowledge of the lie of coast-lands, I feel sure that the +Isles of the Cassiterides must lie there," continued the captain, +pointing westward, "and if we travel diligently, it is not unlikely that +we shall come down upon the coast of this land almost opposite to them. +There we may find, or perhaps make, a boat in which we could cross +over--for the sea at that part is narrow, and the white cliffs of the +land will be easily distinguished. Once there, I have no doubt that we +shall find a ship belonging to one of my countrymen which will take +Maikar and me back to our homes, while you, prince, will doubtless be +able to return to your father's court on foot." + +It will be seen from this speech that the Phoenician captain included +the southern shore of England in his idea of the Cassiterides. His +notion of the direction in which the islands lay, however, was somewhat +incorrect, being founded partly on experience, but partly also on a +misconception prevalent at the time that the islands referred to lay +only a little way to the north of Spain. + +"Your plan seems to me a good one," said Bladud, after some thought, +"but I cannot help thinking that you are not quite right in your notion +as to the direction of the tin islands. When I left Albion, I kept a +careful note of our daily runs--being somewhat curious on such points-- +and it is my opinion that they lie _there_." + +He pointed almost due north. The captain smiled and shook his head. +Bladud looked at Maikar, who also smiled and shook his head. + +"If you want my opinion," said the little man, gravely, "it is that when +two great, good and wise men differ so widely, it is more than likely +the truth lies somewhere between them. In _my_ judgment, therefore, the +Cassiterides lie yonder." + +He pointed with an air of confidence in a north-west direction. + +"It does seem to me," said Bladud, "that Maikar is right, for as you and +I seem to be equally confident in our views, captain, a middle course +may be the safest. However, if you decide otherwise, I of course +submit." + +"Nay," returned the captain, "I will not abuse the power you have given +me. Let us decide the matter by lot." + +"Ay, let us draw lots," echoed Maikar, "and so shove the matter off our +shoulders on to the shoulders of chance." + +"There is, there can be, no such thing as chance," said Bladud in a +soliloquising tone. "However, let it be as you wish. I recognise the +justice of two voices overriding one." + +Lots were drawn accordingly, and the longest fell to the little seaman. +Without further discussion, therefore, the course suggested by him was +adopted. + +"And now, comrades," said the prince, rising and drawing his knife-- +which, like his sword, had been procured in Egypt, and was of white +metal--"we must set to work to make bows and arrows, for animals are not +wont to walk up to man and request to be killed and cooked, and it won't +be long before Maikar is shouting for food." + +"Sorry am I that the good javelin of my grandfather went down in the +carcase of the pirate chief," remarked the captain, also rising, "for it +seems to me by the way you handled it, Bladud, that you could have +killed deer with it as well as men." + +"I have killed deer with such before now, truly, but the arrow is +handier and surer." + +"Ay, in a sure hand, with a good eye to direct it," returned Arkal, "but +I make no pretence to either. A ship, indeed, I can manage to hit--when +I am cool, which is not often the case in a fight--and if there are men +in it, my shafts are not quite thrown away, but as to deer, boars, and +birds, I can make nothing of them. If I mistake not, Maikar is not much +better than myself with the bow." + +"I am worse," observed the little man quietly. + +"Well then," said Bladud, with a laugh, "you must make me hunter to the +party." + +While conversing thus they had entered the forest, and soon found trees +suitable to their purpose, from which they cut boughs,--using their +swords as hatchets. + +We have already shown that the prince had brought his sword, shield, and +knife on shore with him. Captain Arkal and Maikar had also saved their +swords and knives, these having been attached to their girdles at the +time they leaped from the wreck. They were somewhat inferior weapons to +those worn by Bladud, being made of bronze. The swords of the seamen, +unlike that of the prince, were short and double-edged, shaped somewhat +like those used long afterwards by the Romans, and they made up in +weight for what they lacked in sharpness. + +It did not take many hours for the party, under the direction of the +prince, to form three strong and serviceable bows, with several arrows, +the latter being feathered with dropped plumes, and shod with flint, +according to the fashion of the times. Bowstrings had to be made at +first out of the tough fibrous roots of a tree, split into threads and +plaited together. + +"Of course they are not so good as deer-sinews for the purpose," +remarked Bladud, stringing one of the bows and fitting an arrow to it, +"but we must be content until we kill a deer or some other animal. +Perhaps we shall have an opportunity soon." + +The remark seemed to have been prophetic, for, as the last word passed +his lips, a fawn trotted out of a glade right in front of the party and +stood as if paralysed with surprise. The captain and Maikar were +reduced to much the same condition, for they made no attempt to use +their bows. + +"Ho!--" exclaimed the former, but he got no further, for at the moment +Bladud's bow twanged, and an arrow quivered in the breast of the fawn, +which fell dead without a struggle. + +"Well done!" exclaimed the captain heartily. "If such luck always +attends you, prince, we shall fare well on our journey." + +"It was not altogether luck," returned the other. "See you that spot on +the bark of yonder tree--about the size of Maikar's mouth as it now +gapes in astonishment?" + +"I see it, clear enough--just over the--" + +He stopped abruptly, for while he was yet speaking an arrow quivered in +the centre of the spot referred to. + +After that the captain talked no more about "luck," and Maikar, shutting +his mouth with a snap, as if he felt that no words could do justice to +his feelings, sprang up and hastened to commence the operation of +flaying and cutting up the fawn. + +Having thus provided themselves with food, they spent the rest of the +day in preparing it for the journey by drying it in the sun; in making +tough and serviceable bowstrings out of the sinews of the fawn, fitting +on arrow-heads and feathers, and otherwise arranging for a prolonged +march through a country which was entirely unknown to them, both as to +its character and its inhabitants. + +"It comes into my head," said the captain, "that Maikar and I must +provide ourselves with shields and spears of some sort, for if the +people of the land are warlike, we may have to defend ourselves." + +"That is as you say," returned the prince, rising as he spoke and going +towards a long straight bough of a neighbouring tree, on which he had +fixed a critical gaze. + +With one sweep of his heavy sword he severed it from the stem and +returned to his companions. + +"Have you taken an ill-will at that tree, or were you only testing the +strength of your arm?" asked Maikar. + +"Neither, my friend; but I must have a javelin to make my equipment +complete, and I would advise you and the captain to provide yourselves +with like weapons, for we may meet with four-footed as well as +two-legged foes in these parts. I will show you how to point the things +with flint." + +"That is well said," returned the seaman, rising and going into the +woods in search of a suitable branch, followed by the captain. + +It was late that night before the weapons were shaped and pointed with +flint and all ready for a start on the following morning--the only thing +wanting to complete their armament being a couple of shields. + +"We are sure to meet with a wild boar or a bull before long, or it may +be a bear," said Maikar, "and the hides of any of these will serve our +purpose well." + +"That is, if we use them well," remarked the captain. + +"No one said otherwise," retorted Maikar. "Some people are so full of +wise thoughts that they blurt them out, without reason, apparently to +get rid of them." + +"Just so, Maikar, therefore blurt out no more, but hold thy tongue and +go to sleep. Good-night." + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +CONVERSE AND ADVENTURES BY THE WAY. + +Day was just beginning to break in the east when the prince raised his +head from the bundle of leaves that had formed his pillow, and looked +sleepily around him. + +His companions lay still, sound asleep and sprawling, in all the +_abandon_ characteristic of the heroes of antiquity. + +Some of these characteristics were wonderfully similar to those of +modern heroes. For instance, the captain lay flat on his back with his +mouth wide open, and a musical solo proceeding from his nose; while +Maikar lay on his side with his knees doubled up, his arms extended at +full length in front of him, and his hands tightly clasped as if, while +pleading with some one for mercy, he was suddenly petrified and had +fallen over on his side. + +Rising softly, Bladud took up his bow and quiver, and, buckling on his +sword, left the encampment without disturbing the sleepers. He had not +proceeded more than a mile when he startled several wild turkeys or +birds of that species from their rest. One of these he instantly +brought down. Following them up he soon shot another, and returned to +camp, where he found his comrades as he had left them--the musical nose +being if anything more emphatic than before. + +Although naturally a grave man, Bladud was by no means destitute of a +sense of humour, or disinclined on occasion to perpetrate a practical +joke. After contemplating the sleepers for a moment he retired a few +paces and concealed himself in the long grass, from which position he +pitched one of the huge birds into the air, so that it fell on the +captain's upturned visage. The snore changed at once into a yell of +alarm, as the mariner sprang up and grasped his sword, which, of course, +lay handy beside him. + +Electrified by the yell, Maikar also leaped to his feet, sword in hand. + +"What d'ye mean by that?" cried the captain, turning on him fiercely. + +"What mean _you_ by it?" replied Maikar with equal ferocity. + +He had barely uttered the words, when the second turkey hit him full in +the face and tumbled him over the ashes of the fortunately extinguished +fire. + +"Come, come!" interposed the prince, stepping forward with a deprecating +smile; "there should be no quarrelling among friends, especially at the +beginning of a long journey. See, I have fetched your breakfast for +you. Instead of tumbling on the fire and putting it out, Maikar, I +think it would be wiser to see if there is a spark left and blow it into +a flame. Quick! I am hungry." + +It need hardly be said that these orders were received with a laugh and +a prompt obedience on the part of the little man. + +"Yes--there is fire," he said, blowing with tremendous energy until +flame was produced. "And, do you know, there is something within me +that has a loud voice, but only utters one word--`Food! food! food!' +There, now, you may get the birds ready, for the fire will be ready for +them in two winks." + +There was no occasion, however, to give this advice to his friends, for +already the birds had been plucked, split open at the breast, laid flat, +and their interiors scraped out in a summary manner. The plucking was +not, indeed, all that could be wished, but what fingers failed to do a +singe in the flames accomplished to the perfect satisfaction of men who +were in no way particular. Sharp-pointed sticks were then thrust +through the expanded carcases, and they were stuck up in front of the +blaze to roast. + +Underdone meat is an abomination to some, a luxury to others--reminding +one of that very ancient proverb, "Tastes differ." We cannot say +whether on this occasion the uniformity of action in our heroes was the +result of taste or haste, but certain it is that before the fowls were +only half-roasted on one side, they were turned over so as to let the +fire get at the other, and breakfast was begun while the meat was yet +frightfully underdone. + +Thereafter the three men arose, like giants refreshed--if we may say so, +for Maikar was indeed mentally, though not physically, a giant--buckled +on their swords, slung bows and quivers on their backs, along with the +turkey remains, and took up shields and javelins. Having laid their +course by the stars the night before, they set out on their journey +through the unknown wilderness. + +The part of the country through which they passed at the beginning of +the march was broken and diversified by hill and dale; in some places +clothed with forests, in others covered with grass, on which many wild +animals were seen browsing. These, however, were remarkably timid, and +fled at the first sign of the approaching travellers, so that it was +impossible to get within bow-shot of them. + +"From this I judge that they are much hunted," said Bladud, halting on a +ridge to note the wild flight, of a herd of deer which had just caught +eight of them. + +"If so, we are likely to fall in with the hunters before long, I fear," +remarked the captain. + +"Why do you fear?" asked Maikar. + +"Because they may be numerous and savage, and may take a fancy to make +slaves of us, and as we number only three we could not resist their +fancy without losing our lives." + +"That would be a pity," returned Maikar, "for we have only one life to +lose." + +"No; we have three lives to lose amongst us," objected the captain. + +"Which makes one each, does it not?" retorted the seaman. + +"True, Maikar, and we must lose them all, and more if we had them, +rather than become slaves." + +"You are right, captain. We never, _never_ shall be slaves," said +Bladud. + +They say that history repeats itself. Perhaps sentiment does the same. +At all events, the British prince gave utterance that day to a +well-known sentiment, which has been embalmed in modern song and shouted +by many a Briton with tremendous enthusiasm--though not absolute truth. + +"Captain Arkal," said the little seaman, as they jogged quietly down the +sunny slope of a hill, at the bottom of which was a marsh full of +rushes, "how do you manage to find your way through such a tangled +country as this?" + +"By observing the stars," answered the captain. + +"But I have observed the stars since I was a little boy," objected +Maikar, "and I see nothing but a wild confusion of shining points. How +can these guide you? Besides, there are no stars in the daytime." + +"True, Maikar; but we have the sun during the day." + +Maikar shook his head perplexedly. + +"Listen," said the captain, "and I will try to enlighten your dark mind; +but don't object else you'll never understand. All stars are not +alike--d'ye understand that?" + +"Any fool could understand that!" + +"Well, then, of course _you_ can understand it. Now, you have noticed, +no doubt, that some stars are in groups, which groups may alter their +position with regard to other groups, but which never change with regard +to each other." + +"Each other," repeated Maikar, checking off each statement with a nod +and a wave of his javelin. + +"Well," continued the captain, "there's one group of stars--about six-- +plainly to be seen on most fine nights, two stars of which are always +pretty much in a line with a little star a short way in front of them-- +d'ye see?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, that star shows exactly where the cold regions lie--over _there_ +(extending his arm and pointing), and of course if you know that the +cold regions lie _there_, you know that the hot regions must lie at your +back--there, and it follows that the Pillars of Hercules lie _there_ +(pointing west), and home lies somewhere about _there_ (pointing +eastward)." + +"Stop!" cried Maikar in great perplexity--for although a seaman he was +densely ignorant. "Hot regions, _there_, cold, _there_, home and the +Pillars, _there_, and _there_, and _there_ (thrusting his arms out in +all directions). I've no more idea of where you've got me to now than-- +than--" + +"Oh, never mind," interrupted the captain, "it doesn't matter, as you +are not our guide. But, ho! look! look! down in the hollow there--among +the rushes. What's that?" + +"A boar!" said Bladud, in a low whisper, as he unslung his bow. "Come, +now, it will take all our united force to slay that brute, for, if I +have not lost my power of judging such game, I'm pretty sure that he's a +very big old boar with formidable tusks." + +While the prince was speaking, his comrades had also prepared their +weapons, and looked to their guide for directions. + +These were hastily but clearly given. As the boar was evidently asleep +in his lair, it was arranged that the three friends should stalk him, as +the broken ground was specially favourable for such a mode of attack. + +"We will advance together," said Bladud, "with our bows ready. I will +lead; you follow close. When we get within range you will do as you see +me do, and be sure that you aim at the brute's side--not at his head. +Send your arrows with all the force you can. Then drop the bows and get +your javelins ready." + +With eager looks the captain and little sailor nodded assent. They were +much excited, having often heard tales of boar-hunting, though neither +of them had ever taken part in that work. + +A few minutes' walk brought them to the edge of the rushes, where they +had a fair view of the monstrous animal as it lay fully extended on its +side, and not more than thirty yards distant. + +"Take him just behind the fore-leg," whispered Bladud, as he drew his +bow. His companions followed his example. Two of the bows twanged +simultaneously, but the third--that of Maikar--was pulled with such +vigour that it broke with a crash that would have awakened the sleepiest +of wild boars, had there been nothing else to arouse him. As it was, +other things helped to quicken his sensibilities. Bladud's unfailing +arrow went indeed straight for the heart, but a strong rib caught and +checked its progress. The captain's shaft, probably by good luck, +entered deep into the creature's flank not far from the tail. + +To say that the forest was instantly filled with ear-splitting shrieks +is to express the result but feebly. We might put it as a sort of +indefinite question in the rule of three, thus--if an ordinary civilised +pig with injured feelings can yell as we all know how, what must have +been the explosion of a wild-boar of the eighth century BuCu, in +circumstances such as we have described? Railway whistles of the +nineteenth century, intermittently explosive, is the only possible +answer to the question, and that is but an approximation to the truth. + +For one instant the infuriated creature paused to look for its +assailants. Catching sight of them as they were fitting arrows to their +bows, it gave vent to a prolonged locomotive-express yell, and charged. +Bladud's arrow hit it fair between the eyes, but stuck in the +impenetrable skull. The shaft of the captain missed, and the javelin of +Maikar went wildly wide of the mark. + +By order of Bladud the three had separated a few yards from each other. +Even in its rage the monster was perplexed by this, for it evidently +perceived the impossibility of attacking three foes at the same moment. +Which to go for was the question. Like an experienced warrior it went +for the "little one." + +Maikar had drawn his last weapon--the short sword of bronze--and, like a +brave man as he was, "prepared to receive boarelry." Another instant +and the enemy was upon him. More than that, it was over him, for, +trusting to his agility--for which he was famed--he tried to leap to one +side, intending to make a vigorous thrust at the same moment. In doing +so his foot slipped; he fell flat on his side, and the boar, tripping +over him, just missed ripping him with its fearful tusks. It fell, with +a bursting squeak, beyond. + +To leap up and turn was the work of an instant for the boar, and would +have been the same for the man if he had not been partially stunned by +the fall. As it was, the captain, who was nearest, proved equal to the +emergency, for, using his javelin as a spear, he plunged it into the +boar's side. But that side was tougher than he had expected. The spear +was broken by a sharp twist as the animal turned on its new foe, who now +stood disarmed and at its mercy. Bladud's ponderous sword, however, +flashed in the air at that moment, and fell on the creature's neck with +a force that would have made Hercules envious if he had been there. +Deep into the brawn it cut, through muscle, fat, and spine, almost +slicing the head from the trunk, and putting a sudden stop to the last +yell when it reached the windpipe. The boar rolled head over heels like +a shot hare, almost overturning Bladud as it wrenched the sword from his +hand, and swept the captain off his legs, carrying him along with it in +a confusion of blood and bristles. + +It was truly a terrific encounter, and as the prince stood observing the +effect of his blow, he would probably have burst into a fit of laughter, +had he not been somewhat solemnised by Captain Arkal's fearful +appearance, as he arose ensanguined, but uninjured, from the ground. + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +DISCOVERY AND FLIGHT. + +Being now provided with material for making shields, they resolved to +spend a day in camp. This was all the more necessary, that the shoes or +sandals which they had worn at sea were not well suited for the rough +travelling which they had now to undertake. + +Accordingly they selected a spot on the brow of a hill from which the +surrounding country could be seen in nearly all directions. But they +were careful also to see that several bushes shielded themselves from +view, for it was a matter of uncertainty whether or where natives might +make their appearance. + +Here, bathed in glorious sunshine, with a lovely prospect of land and +water, tangled wood and flowery plains, to gladden their eyes, and the +savoury smell of pork chops and turkey to tickle their nostrils, they +spent two days in manufacturing the various necessary articles. Captain +Arkal provided himself with a new javelin. + +Maikar made another bow, and both fabricated tough round shields with +double plies of the boar's hide. Out of the same substance Bladud made +a pair of shoes for each of them. + +"The sandals you wear at home," he said, "are not so good as those used +by us in Albion. They don't cover the feet sufficiently, and they +expose the toes too much. Yet our sandals are easily and quickly made. +Look here--I will show you." + +His companions paused in their labour and looked on, while the prince +took up an oblong piece of boar-hide, over a foot in length and six +inches broad, which had been soaking in water till it had become quite +soft and limp. Placing one of his feet on this he drew the pattern of +it on the skin with a pointed stick. Around this pattern, and about a +couple of inches from it, he bored a row of holes an inch or so apart. +Through these holes he rove a thong of hide, and then rounded away the +corners of the piece. + +"There," said he, placing his foot in the centre of it and drawing the +thong, "my sandal is ready." + +The tightening of the thong drew up the edges of the shoe until they +overlapped and entirely encased his foot. + +"Good," said the captain, "but that kind of sandal is not new to me. +I've seen it before, not only in your country, but in other lands." + +"Indeed? Well, after all, it is so simple, and so likely to hit the +minds of thoughtful men, that I doubt not it is used wherever travelling +is bad or weather cold. We shall need such sandals in this land, for +there is, no doubt, great variety of country, also of weather, and many +thorns." + +While our travellers were thus labouring and commenting on their work, +unseen eyes were gazing at them with profound interest and curiosity. + +A boy, or youth just emerging from the state of boyhood, lay low in a +neighbouring thicket with his head just elevated sufficiently above the +grass to enable his black eyes to peer over it. He was what we of the +nineteenth century term a savage. That is to say, he was unkempt, +unwashed, and almost naked--but not uneducated, though books had nothing +to do with his training. + +The prince chanced to look round, and saw the black eyes instantly, but +being, as we have said, an adept in woodcraft--including savage +warfare--he did not permit the slightest evidence of recognition to +escape him. He continued his gaze in the same direction, allowing his +eyes slowly to ascend, as if he were looking through the tree-tops at +the sky. Then turning his head quietly round he resumed his work and +whistled--for whistling had been invented even before that time. + +"Comrades," he said, after a few minutes, "don't look up from your work, +but listen. We are watched. You go on with your occupations as if all +was right, and leave me to deal with the watcher." + +His comrades took the hint at once and went quietly on with their +labours, while the prince arose, stretched himself, as if weary of his +work. After a few minutes of looking about him, as though undecided +what to do next, he sauntered into the bush at the side of their +encampment opposite to that where the watcher lay. + +The moment he got out of range of the boy's eyes, however, his careless +air vanished, and he sped through the underwood with the quietness and +something of the gait of a panther--stooping low and avoiding to tread +on dead twigs. Making a wide circle, he came round behind the spot +where the watcher was hid. But, trained though he had been in the art +of savage warfare, the boy was equal to him. From the first he had +observed in Bladud's acting the absence of that "touch of nature which +makes the whole world kin," and kept a bright look-out to his rear as +well as in his front, so that when Bladud, despite his care, trod on a +dry stick the boy heard it. Next moment he was off, and a moment after +that he was seen bounding down the hill like a wild-cat. + +The prince, knowing the danger of letting the boy escape and carry +information to his friends, dashed after him at full speed--and the rate +of his running may be estimated when it is remembered that many a time +he had defeated men who had been victors at the Olympic games. But the +young savage was nearly his match. Feeling, however, that he was being +slowly yet surely overtaken, the boy doubled like a hare and made for a +ridge that lay on his left. By that time the chase was in full view of +the two men in camp, who rose and craned their necks in some excitement +to watch it. + +"He's after something," said the captain. + +"A boy!" said Maikar. + +"Ay, and running him down, hand over hand." + +"There seems to be no one else in sight, so we don't need to go to his +help." + +"If he needs our help he'll come for it," returned the captain with a +laugh, "and it will puzzle the swiftest runner in the land to beat his +long legs. See, he's close on the lad now." + +"True," responded the other, with a sigh of disappointment, "but we +shan't see the end of it, for the boy will be over the ridge and out of +sight before he is caught." + +Maikar was right. Even while he spoke the youthful savage gained the +summit, where his slim, agile figure was clearly depicted against the +sky. Bladud was running at full speed, not a hundred yards behind him, +yet, to the amazement of the spectators, the boy suddenly stopped, +turned round, and waved his hand with a shout of defiance. Next moment +he was over the ridge and gone. A few seconds later the prince was seen +to halt at the same point, but instead of continuing the pursuit, he +remained immovable for a few minutes gazing in front of him. Then he +returned toward the encampment with a somewhat dejected air. + +"No wonder you look surprised," he said, on arriving. "The other side +of that ridge is a sheer precipice, down which I might have gone if I +had possessed wings. There was no track visible anywhere, but of course +there must have been a well-concealed one somewhere, for soon after I +reached the top I saw the young wild-cat running over the plain far +below. On coming to the edge of a long stretch of forest, he stopped +and capered about like a monkey. I could see, even at that distance, +that he was making faces at me by way of saying farewell. Then he +entered the woods, and that was the end of him." + +"I wish it was the end of him," observed the captain, with something +like a growl--for his voice was very deep, and he had a tendency to +mutter when disturbed in temper. "The monkey will be sure to run home +and tell what he's seen, and so bring all his tribe about our ears." + +"Ay, not only his tribe," remarked Maikar, "but his uncles, brothers, +fathers, nephews, and all his kin to the latest walkable generation." + +"Are your weapons ready?" asked Bladud, taking up his sword and putting +on his helmet. + +"All ready," answered the captain, beginning to collect things--"I have +just finished two head-pieces out of the boar-hide for myself and +Maikar, which will turn an arrow or a sword-cut, unless delivered by a +strong arm. Don't you think them handsome?" + +"They are suitable, at any rate," said Maikar, "for they are as ugly as +our faces." + +"Come, then, we must make haste, for wild men are not slow to act," +rejoined Bladud. "By good fortune our way does not lie in the direction +the boy took. We shall get as far away from them as possible, and +travel during the night." + +In a few minutes the little party--by that time fully equipped for the +chase or war--were hurrying down the hillside in the direction of the +setting sun. It was growing late in the evening, and as they reached +the bottom, they had to cross a meadow which was rather swampy, so that +their feet sank in some parts over the ankles. + +"I say, guide," observed Maikar, who, like his nautical commander, had +small respect for rank, and addressed the prince by what he deemed an +appropriate title, "it has just come into my head that we are leaving a +tremendous trail behind us. We seafaring men are not used to trouble +our heads on that score, for our ships leave no track on the waves, but +it is not so on the land. Won't these naked fellows follow us up and +kill us, mayhap, when we're asleep?" + +"Doubtless they will try," answered Bladud, "but we land-faring men are +in the habit of troubling our heads on that score, and guarding against +it. Do you see yonder stream, or, rather, the line of bushes that mark +its course?" + +"Ay, plainly." + +"Well, when we reach that, you shall see and understand without +explanation." + +On reaching the stream referred to, they found that it was a small, +shallow one, with a sluggish current, for the plain through which it +flowed was almost flat. + +"You see," said Bladud, pausing on the brink, "that it flows towards the +sea in the direction we have come from. Now step into the water and +follow me down stream." + +"Down?" exclaimed the captain in surprise, and with some hesitation. +"We don't want to return to the sea whence we have just come, do we?" + +"Captain Arkal," returned Bladud, sternly, "when you give orders on +board ship, do you expect to have them questioned, or obeyed?" + +"Lead on, guide," returned the captain, stepping promptly into the +water. + +For about a quarter of a mile the prince led his followers in silence +and with much care, for it was growing very dark. Presently they came +to a place where the banks were swampy and the stream deep. Here their +guide landed and continued to walk a short distance down the bank, +ordering his followers to conceal their track as much as possible, by +closing the long grass over each footprint. The result, even to the +unpractised eyes of the seamen, did not seem satisfactory, but their +leader made no comment. After proceeding about fifty yards further, he +re-entered the stream and continued the descent for about a mile. Then +he stopped abruptly, and, turning round, said, "Now, comrades, we will +land for a moment, then re-enter the stream and ascend." + +The astonishment of Captain Arkal was so great, that he was again on the +point of asking an explanation, for it seemed to him that wandering down +the bed of a stream for the mere purpose of turning and wandering up it, +when haste was urgent, could only be accounted for on the supposition +that the prince had gone mad. Remembering his previous rebuff, however, +he kept silence. + +On reaching the swampy part of the bank their leader did not land, but +held straight on, though the water reached nearly to their armpits. +They were somewhat cooled, but not disagreeably so, for the night was +warm. + +In course of time they reached the spot where they had first entered the +stream. Passing it, without landing, they held on their course for a +considerable distance, until they came to a place where the stream was +not more than ankle-deep. Here Bladud paused a few moments and turned +to his companions. + +"Now, captain," he said, with a smile that may be said to have been +almost audible though not visible, "do you understand my proceedings?" + +"Not quite, though, to say truth, I begin to think you are not just so +mad as you seemed at first." + +"Don't you see," continued the prince, "that when we first came to the +stream, I entered it so that our footprints on the bank would show +clearly that we had gone downwards. This will show our pursuers, when +they arrive here, that, though we are wise enough to take to the water +because it leaves no footprints, we are not experienced enough to be +careful as to concealing the direction we have taken. When they reach +the swampy bank and deep water, they will be led to think we did not +like getting wet, and the effort made to cover our footprints, will make +them think that we are very ignorant woodsmen. Then, with much +confidence, they will continue to follow down stream, looking on the +banks now and then for our footprints, until they begin to wonder +whether we intend to make a highroad of the river all the way to the +sea. After that they will become perplexed, astonished, suspicious as +to our stupidity, and will scurry round in all directions, or hold a +council, and, finally they will try up stream; but it will be too late, +for by that time we shall be far away on our road towards the setting +sun." + +"Good!" ejaculated Maikar, when this explanation was finished. + +"Good!" echoed the captain, with an approving nod. "You understand your +business, I see. Shove out your oars. We follow." + +Without further remark Bladud continued his progress up stream. It was +necessarily slow at first, but as night advanced the moon rose, in her +first quarter, and shed a feeble but sufficient light on their watery +path. + +At last they came to a place where the leader's sharp eye observed signs +of the presence of man. Stopping short and listening intently, they +heard subdued voices not far from the spot where they stood. + +"Stay where you are," whispered Bladud. "Don't move. I'll return +immediately." + +He entered the bushes cautiously and disappeared. Standing there +without moving, and in profound silence, under the dark shadow of an +overhanging bush, it is no wonder that the captain and his comrade began +to think the time very long, yet it was only a few minutes after he had +left them that their guide returned. + +"Only a single family," he whispered--"three men, two women, and four +children. We have nothing to fear, but we must pass on in silence." + +The discovery of those natives obliged them to continue the march up the +bed of the stream much longer than they had intended, and the night was +far advanced before they thought it prudent to leave the water and +pursue the journey on dry land. + +Fortunately the country was open and comparatively free from underwood, +so that they made progress much more rapidly; nevertheless, it was not +thought safe to take rest until they had placed many a mile between them +and the natives, who, it was thought probable, would be started in +pursuit of them by the youth to whom Bladud had given chase. + +Much wearied, and almost falling asleep while they advanced, the +travellers halted at last in a dense thicket, and there, lying down +without food or fire, they were soon buried in profound repose. + +CHAPTER NINE. + +HOMECOMING. + +It is beyond the scope of this tale to describe minutely all that befell +our adventurers on their long, fatiguing, and dangerous march through +ancient Gaul, which land at that time had neither name nor history. + +Suffice it to say that, after numerous adventures with savage beasts, +and scarcely less savage men, and many hair-breadth escapes and +thrilling incidents by flood and field, they at last found themselves on +the shores of that narrow channel which separated the northern coast of +Gaul from the white cliffs of Old Albion. They were guided thereto, as +we have said, by the Pole-star, which shone in our sky in those days +with its wonted brilliancy, though, probably, astronomers had not yet +given to it a local habitation in their systems or a distinctive name. + +Of course their passage through the land had been attended with great +variety of fortune, good and bad. In some parts they met with natives +who received them hospitably and sent them on their way rejoicing. +Elsewhere they found banditti, fortunately in small bands, with whom +they had to fight, and once they were seized and imprisoned by a tribe +of inhospitable savages, from whom they escaped, as it were, by the skin +of their teeth. + +In all these vicissitudes the gigantic frame and the mild, kindly looks +of Bladud went far to conciliate the uncertain, attract the friendly, +and alarm the savage, for it is a curious fact, explain it how we may, +that the union of immense physical power with childlike sweetness of +countenance, has a wonderful influence in cowing angry spirits. It may +be that strong, angry, blustering men are capable only of understanding +each other. When they meet with strong men with womanlike tenderness +they are puzzled, and puzzlement, we think, goes a long way to shake the +nerves even of the brave. At all events it is well known that a sudden +burst of wrath from one whose state of temper is usually serene, exerts +a surprising and powerful effect on average mankind. + +Whatever be the truth as to these things, it is certain that nearly +every one who looked up at the face of Bladud liked him, and more than +once when his ponderous sword sprang from its sheath, and his blue eyes +flashed, and his fair face flushed, and his magnificent teeth went +together with a snap, he has been known to cause a dozen men to turn and +flee rather than encounter the shock of his onset. + +Little Maikar, who was himself as brave as a lion, nearly lost his life +on one occasion, because he was so taken up and charmed with the sight +of one of Bladud's rushes, that he utterly forgot what he was about, and +would have been crushed by the smite of a savage club, if the captain +had not promptly turned aside the blow and struck the club-man down. + +"At last!" exclaimed the prince, with a gaze of enthusiasm at the +opposite cliffs, "my native land! Well do I love it and well do I know +it, for I have stood on this shore and seen it from this very spot when +I was quite a boy." + +"Indeed! How was that?" asked Arkal. + +"I used to be fond of the sea, and was wont to travel far from my +father's home to reach it. I made friends with the fishermen, and used +to go off with them in their little skiffs. One day a storm arose +suddenly, blew us off shore, and, when we were yet a long distance from +this coast, overturned our skiff. What became of my companions I know +not. Probably they were drowned, for I never more saw them; but I swam +ashore, where I think I should have died of exhaustion if I had not been +picked up by an old fisherman of this land, who carried me to his hut +and took care of me. With the old man I remained several months, for +the fishermen on the two sides of the channel had been quarrelling at +the time, and the old man did not dare to venture across. I did not +care much, for I enjoyed playing with his grandson, and soon learned +their language. After a time the quarrelling ceased, and the old man +landed me on my own side." + +"That is interesting. I only wish the old fisherman was here now with +his skiff, for there is no village in sight and no skiff to be seen, so +how we are to get over I cannot tell,--swimming being impossible and +wings out of the question." + +"Ay, except in the case of fish and birds," observed Maikar. + +"True, and as we are neither fish nor birds," rejoined the captain, +"what is to be done?" + +"We must find a skiff," said the prince. + +"Good, but where?" + +"On the other side of yon bluff cape," replied Bladud. "It was there +that my friend the old fisherman lived. Mayhap he may live there +still." + +Pushing on along shore they passed the bold cape referred to, and there, +sure enough, they found the old man's hut, and the old man himself was +seated on a boulder outside enjoying the sunshine. + +Great was his surprise on seeing the three strangers approach, but +greater was his joy on learning that the biggest of the three was the +boy whom he had succoured many years before. + +After the first greetings were over, Bladud asked if he and his friends +could be taken across in a skiff. + +The old man shook his head. + +"All that I possess," he said, "you are welcome to, but my skiff is not +here, and if it was I am too old to manage it now. My son, your old +companion, has had it away these two days, and I don't expect him home +till to-morrow. But you can rest in my poor hut till he comes." + +As there seemed nothing better to be done, the travellers agreed to +this. Next day the son arrived, but was so changed in appearance, that +Bladud would not have recognised his old playmate had not his father +called him by name. + +The skiff, although primitive and rude in its construction, was +comparatively large, and a considerable advance on the dug-outs, or +wooden canoes, and the skin coracles of the period. It had a square or +lug-sail, and was steered by a rudder. + +"My son is a strange man," remarked the old fisherman, as the party +sauntered down to the shore, up which the skiff had been dragged. "He +invented that skiff as well as made it, and the curious little thing +behind that steers it." + +"Able and strange men seem to work their minds in the same way," +returned Bladud; "for the thing is not altogether new. I have seen +something very like it in the East; and, to my mind, it is a great +improvement on the long oar when the boat is driven through the water, +but it is of no use at all when there is no motion." + +"No; neither is it of use when one wishes to sweep round in a hurry," +observed the captain, when this was translated to him. "If it had not +been for my steering-oar bringing you sharp round when we were attacking +the pirate, you would hardly have managed to spit the chief as you did, +strong though you be." + +It was found that the new style of skiff was a good sailer, for, +although the wind was light, her lug-sail carried her over to the coast +of Albion in about four hours. + +"There has been some bad feeling of late between the men from the +islands and the men of our side--there often is," said the young +fisherman, who steered. "I am not sure that it will be safe to land +here." + +"If that be so, hold on close along the shore in the direction of the +setting sun," returned Bladud, "and land us after nightfall. I know the +whole country well, and can easily guide my comrades through the woods +to my father's town on the great river." + +The young fisherman did not reply for a few seconds. He seemed in doubt +as to this proposal. + +"There has been war lately," he said, "between your father and the +southern tribes, and it may be dangerous for so small a party to +traverse the lands of the enemy. I would gladly go and help you, but +what could one arm more do to aid you against a host? Besides, my +father is dependent on me now for food. I may not forsake the old one +who has fed and guarded me since I was a little boy." + +"Concern yourself not about that, friend," replied the prince. "We need +no help. During many days we have travelled safely enough through the +great woods of the interior, and have held our own against all foes." + +"Without doubt we are well able to take care of ourselves," remarked the +captain, "though it is but fair to admit that we have had some trouble +in doing so." + +"Ay, and some starvation, too," added Maikar; "but having come safe over +the mainland, we are not afraid to face the dangers of the isles, young +man." + +"I said not that you were afraid," rejoined the fisherman, with +something of dignified reproof in his manner; "but it is not disgraceful +for brave men to act with caution." + +"Well said, my old comrade!" exclaimed Bladud; "and so we shall be +pleased if you will land us here. But your speech leads me to +understand that you have had news of my father's doings lately. Is the +old man well?" + +"Ay, King Hudibras is well, and as fond of fighting as ever, besides +being well able for it. I am not sure that he would be pleased if he +heard you call him the `old man.'" + +"Indeed? Yet nearly fifty winters have passed over his head, and that +is somewhat old for a warrior. And my mother and sister--have you heard +of them?" + +"Excellently well, I believe. At least, so I have been told by the +Hebrew merchant who came over sea with one of the Phoenician ships, and +wanders over the whole land with his pack of golden ornaments--which so +take the fancy of the women, indeed of the men also. How the fellow +escapes being robbed on his journeys is more than I can tell. It is +said that he travels by night and sleeps in caves during the day. Some +people even think that he is in league with evil spirits. I doubt that; +but he told me the other day, when I met him on our side of the channel, +that your sister is about to be married to a neighbouring chief--I +forget his name--Gunrig, I think--with whom your father wishes to be on +friendly terms." + +"Married!" exclaimed Bladud, with a troubled look. + +"Ay, and it is said she does not like the match." + +"Does my mother approve of it?" + +"I think not, though the Hebrew did not seem to feel quite sure on that +point. But your father seems resolved on it, and you know he is not +easily turned from his purpose when determined to have his way. He is +more difficult to move than a woman in that matter." + +"Come, friend," said Bladud gravely, "don't be too free in your remarks +on my father." + +"And don't be too hard on the women-folk," added the captain, with a +grim smile, "they are not all alike. At least there is one that I know +of in the East, whose spirit is like that of the lamb, and her voice +like the notes of the songbird." + +Maikar looked as if he were on the point of adding something to the +conversation, but his thoughts seemed too deep for utterance, for he +only sighed. + +"Land us in yon creek," said Bladud promptly. "It seems that I have not +returned home a moment too soon. There, under the cliff--so." + +The skiff ran alongside of a ledge of rock as he spoke, and next moment +the prince leaped upon the shores of his native land. + +With a brief farewell to his old playmate, he turned, led his companions +up the neighbouring cliff, and, plunging into the forest, set off at a +pace which betrayed the urgency of his desire to reach home. + +Although they travelled almost night and day, it took them the better +part of two weeks to reach the river, on the banks of which King +Hudibras' chief town was built. They arrived at the eastern bank +without mishap, and found that people were crowding over from the +western side to attend some display or fete which was obviously going on +there. Mingling with the crowd they went to the river's edge, where +numerous wooden canoes and coracles were busily engaged in ferrying the +people over. + +Approaching a man, whose apparel betokened him one of the poorer class, +Bladud addressed him-- + +"Can you tell me, friend, what is going on here to-day?" + +"Truly you must be a stranger if you know not, for every one--far and +near--has heard of the wedding of our king's pretty daughter." + +"Is she, then, married?" asked the prince, scarcely able to conceal his +anxiety. + +"Not yet, but she is to be married to-morrow--if no champion comes to +claim her." + +"How? What mean you?" + +"I mean what I say. Gunrig, the great chief whom she is to wed, is a +proud and a stout man. Many chiefs have been courting the fair +princess, and, in his pride of heart and strength, Gunrig has challenged +any one to fight him in single combat, promising that the bride shall be +given to the conqueror." + +"And does my--does the king agree to such a base proposal?" + +"Well, he objected to it at first, but Gunrig is such a dangerous enemy, +and his tribe so powerful, that the king has given in at last. Besides, +he knows that the chief is so strong and big, and so well able to use +his weapons, that none of the other chiefs are likely to venture a trial +with him, or, if they do, they are sure to get the worst of it." + +"You don't seem to like this Gunrig, I think." + +"No. I hate him. Everybody hates him; he is such a proud brute, but +what can _we_ do? when the king commands, all must obey. If I was as +big and stout as you are," added the man with a steady gaze at the +prince, "I'd go at this fellow and win the fair princess myself." + +"Perchance I may have a try," returned Bladud with a light laugh. "Does +the princess hate him? and the queen?" + +"Ay, worse than poison." + +"Come, let us go and see the sport," said the prince to his companions, +as he hurried away from the river. "You know our language well enough, +I think, captain, to understand what has been said?" + +"Ay, the most of it; and there is no doubt you are much wanted at this +feast." + +In a few minutes our travellers arrived at the suburbs of the little +town, which was embosomed among trees and green fields. + +As hundreds of people had come in from all the country round, and some +of them were Phoenician mariners from ships then in port, our three +adventurers might not have attracted much attention, had it not been for +the towering height, stalwart frame, and noble bearing of Bladud. As it +was, people commented on them, bestowing looks of admiration +particularly on the prince, but they did not address or molest them in +any way--supposing, of course, that they had come from a distance to see +the show; though many wondered that such a strapping fellow as the tall +one could have come to the land without having been heard of. + +"Perhaps he has only just arrived in one of the ships," was the +sagacious remark of one. + +"But the ships have been here a long time, and we have seen all their +crews," was the comment of another. + +On arriving at the scene of festivities, they found that an immense +assemblage encircled the arena, in which a number of young men were +competing in athletic sports. The captain and Maikar gently elbowed +their way to the front, where they could see what was going on. + +"I will remain in the back row where I can see well enough," said +Bladud. "Keep a look-out for me when you feel lost. I don't mean to +make myself known just yet." + +CHAPTER TEN. + +THE SPORTS. + +At the further end of the ground enclosed for the sports, a slightly +raised platform had been prepared for the king and his household. The +royal party ascended it soon after the travellers arrived, but the +distance was too great to permit of faces being distinguished. Bladud +could easily perceive, however, the tall form of his father, and the +graceful figure of his mother, as they took their places, closely +followed by the chief warriors. These, however, did not bring their +women--that privilege being reserved for the household of the king only. +Close behind the king and queen walked the young Princess Hafrydda. +She was not only graceful, but beautiful, being very fair like her +mother, with light-blue eyes like those of her brother Bladud; she had +peach-bloom cheeks, and a brow of snow, save where her cap failed to +protect it from the sun. + +After the princess, and shrinking behind her as if to escape the gaze of +the courtiers, or rather warriors, who crowded the platform, came a girl +of about nineteen summers, the companion of Hafrydda. Branwen was a +complete contrast to her friend in complexion. She was the daughter of +a famous northern chief, and was quite as beautiful as the princess, +while her jet-black eyes and curly brown hair gave more of force and +character to features which were delicately moulded. + +There was reason for poor Branwen's desire to escape observation, for +the proud Gunrig was paying her attentions which were far too pointed +and familiar in one who was about to marry the king's daughter. Indeed, +it was whispered that he had changed his mind since he had seen Branwen, +and would have even resigned the princess in her favour, if he had dared +to offer such an affront to the king. + +Hudibras himself was the last to ascend the platform. He was a +fine-looking, portly man, with a great shock of black hair, a long +beard, and limbs so well proportioned that he did not seem taller than +other men until he stood beside them. He was a worthy sire of such a +son as Bladud, though three inches shorter. + +There was a sort of barbaric splendour in the costumes of both men and +women, combined with some degree of graceful simplicity. The king was +clothed in a softly-dressed deer-skin jacket, over which he wore a +wolf-skin with the hair outside. A tunic of purple cotton, brought by +Phoenician ships from the far East, covered him as far down as the +knees, which were bare, while his lower limbs were swathed in strips of +scarlet cloth. Leather sandals, resembling those made by Bladud while +in Gaul, protected his feet. No crown or other token of royalty rested +on his brow, but over his dark and grizzled locks he wore a species of +leather skull-cap which, being exceeding tough, served the purpose of a +helmet. On his breast was a profusion of ornaments in the form of beads +and bosses of gold and tin, the former of which had been brought from +the East, the latter from the mines of his native land. A bronze sword +with an ivory sheath, inlaid with gold, hung at his left side, and a +knife of the same material at his right. Altogether King Hudibras, +being broad and strong in proportion to his height, presented a very +regal appearance indeed, and bore himself with becoming dignity. He had +married the daughter of a Norse Jarl; and his two children, Bladud and +Hafrydda, had taken after their gentle mother in complexion and +disposition, though they were not altogether destitute of a sub-current +of their father's passionate nature. + +The nobles, or rather warriors--for ability to fight constituted +nobility in those days--were clothed in garments which, with sundry +modifications, resembled those of the king. As for the women of the +court, their costumes were what may be styled flowing, and therefore +graceful, though difficult to describe. Like their lords, they were +profusely ornamented with precious metals and bands and loops of +coloured cloth. Hafrydda and her companion Branwen allowed their hair +to fall, after the manner of the times, in unrestrained freedom over +their shoulders--that of the former resembling a cataract of rippling +gold, while that of the latter was a wavy mass of auburn. Both girls +wore wild flowers among their tresses. Of course the queen had rolled +up her slightly grey hair in the simple knot at the back of the head, +which is more becoming to age, and she wore no ornament of any kind on +her head. + +Public games are pretty much the same in all lands, and have probably +been similar in all times. We shall not weary the reader by describing +minutely all that went on. There was racing, of course, and jumping +both with and without a run, as well as over a willow-wand held high. +There was also throwing the heavy stone, but the method pursued in this +feat was not in accordance with modern practice, inasmuch as the +competitor turned his back to the direction in which the stone was to be +thrown, heeled instead of toed the line, seized the stone with both +hands and hurled it backwards over his head. + +As the games proceeded it was evident that the concourse became much +excited and deeply interested in the efforts of the various +competitors--the king and his court not less so than the people. + +After the conclusion of one of the races, Captain Arkal left the front +row, and pushing his way towards Bladud, whispered-- + +"It seems to me that you could easily beat the winner of that race, +smart though he be. What say you? Will you try?" + +"I fear being discovered by my father if I go so prominently before him, +and I wish to announce myself in private." + +"Pooh! discovery is impossible! Have you not told me that you were a +smooth-chinned boy, and not grown to near your present height when you +left home? How can they ever recognise one who returns a sunburnt +giant, with a beard that covers half his face?" + +"Perhaps you are right," returned the prince, looking as if uncertain +how to act; but the advice of little Maikar corresponding with that of +the captain decided him. + +In those primitive times the rules and ceremonies connected with games +were few and simple. "Entries" were not arranged beforehand; men came +and went, and competed or refrained, as they pleased, though, of course, +there were a few well-known greyhound-like men and athletes who competed +more or less in all games of the various districts around, and whose +superlative powers prevented other ambitious men from becoming too +numerous. These were, we may say, the "professionals" of the time. + +No special costumes were worn. Each man, as he stepped to the front, +divested himself of wolf-skin, deer-skin, boar-skin, or cat-skin mantle, +and, perchance, also of his upper coat, and stood forth in attire +sufficiently light and simple to leave his limbs unhampered. + +A long race--ten times round the course--was about to come off, and the +men were being placed by the judges, when Bladud pushed through the +crowd and made his way to the starting-point. There was a murmur of +admiration as his tall and graceful figure was seen to join the group of +competitors in front of the royal stand. He gave the Greek letter +Omicron as his name, and no further questions were asked him. Divesting +himself of the rug or mantle, which he wore thrown over one shoulder +after the manner of a plaid, he stood forth in the thin loose tunic +which formed his only garment, and tightened his belt as he toed the +line. + +It was with a feeling of satisfaction that he observed several of the +king's warriors among the runners, and one of these was Gunrig. Being +an agile as well as a stout man, he did not consider it beneath his +dignity to join in the sports. + +The king himself gave the signal to start. He descended from his stand +for the purpose, and Bladud was greatly pleased to find that though he +looked at him he evidently failed to recognise him. + +At the signal, about twenty powerful fellows--mostly young, though some +were in the prime of life--started out at full speed for a short +distance, as if to test each other; then they began to slow, so as not +to break their wind by over-exertion at the beginning. Bladud felt at +once that he was more than a match for the best of them, unless any one +should turn out to have been concealing his powers. He therefore placed +himself alongside of Gunrig, and kept at his elbow about half a foot +behind him the first two rounds of the course. + +At first Gunrig took no notice of this, but when he perceived that the +tall stranger continued to keep the same position, he held back a +little, intending to reverse the position for a time. But Bladud also +held back and frustrated his intention. Exasperated by this, Gunrig put +on what we in these times call a "spurt," and went ahead at a pace +which, in a few seconds, left most of the runners a good way behind. +This was received by the spectators with a cheer, in which surprise was +fully as prominent as satisfaction, for although they knew that the +chief was celebrated for his speed of foot, few of them had actually +seen him run before that day, and it at once became evident that if his +endurance was equal to his speed, it would go hard with his competitors. + +Bladud was left behind a few yards, but, without making a spurt, he +lengthened his stride a little, and in a moment or two had resumed his +former position at his rival's elbow. + +A wild cheer of delight ensued, for now it was recognised that in all +probability the race would lie between these two. As, however, all this +occurred in the third round of the course, and all the other runners +seemed to be doing their work with steady resolution, there was still +the possibility of one or more of them proving themselves, by endurance +perhaps, more than a match for the swift-footed. The excitement, +therefore, became intense, and, as round after round of the course was +completed the relative position of the various men changed considerably. + +At the seventh round some, who had been husbanding their strength, let +out, and, passing others with great ease, came close upon the heels of +Gunrig and Bladud. This was, of course, a signal for enthusiastic +cheering. Others of the runners, feeling that their chance of taking a +respectable place was hopeless, dropped out of the race altogether and +were cheered vociferously as they retired. + +At last, in the eighth round, it became practically, as had been +anticipated, a race between the leading two, for they were far ahead of +all the others by that time, but occupied exactly the same relative +position as before. Gunrig became so exasperated at this, that on +commencing the ninth round, he made a sudden effort which carried him +five or six yards ahead of his rival. + +The spectators could not avoid cheering him at this, but the cheer was +feeble. + +"The tall man is losing wind," cried one in a disappointed tone. + +"I feared his legs were too long," observed another. Most of the +people, however, looked on in anxious silence. + +"I did not think he would give in so easily," murmured little Maikar +regretfully. + +"He has not given in yet," returned the captain, with a satisfied nod. +"See--he pulls up!" + +This was true. To the unbounded surprise of the spectators, Bladud had +actually stopped a moment to tighten his belt at the beginning of the +tenth round. Then, to their still greater amazement, he put on what we +may call an Olympic spurt, so that he overtook his rival in less than a +quarter of a minute; passed him easily, ran over the rest of the course +at a rate which had not been equalled since Old Albion was created, and +passed the winning-post full five hundred yards in advance of Gunrig, +amid yells of delight and roars of laughter, which continued for some +time--bursting forth again and again as the novelty and surprise of the +thing became more and more forced home to the spectators' minds. + +"You have met more than your match to-day, Gunrig," remarked the king, +with a laugh, as the defeated man strode angrily up to the platform. + +"I have met foul play," replied the chief angrily. "He pretended that +he could not run, else would I have put on more force. But it matters +not. I will have another opportunity of trying him. Meanwhile, there +is yet the heavy stone to throw. How now, wench?" he added, turning +fiercely on Branwen, who had nearly hidden her face in her shawl, "do +you try to hide that you are laughing at me?" + +Poor Branwen was in anything but a laughing mood. She was too much +afraid of the fiery chief for that, and had merely covered her face, as +a modern beauty might drop her veil, to avoid his gaze. + +The fair-haired Hafrydda, however, was not so timid, her smile was +evidently one of amusement at his defeat, which angered him all the +more. + +"Gunrig," said the king, drawing himself up, and speaking impressively, +"remember that you are my guest, and that it ill becomes you to insult +my women before my face." + +"Pardon me," replied the chief, with an effort to recover himself. "You +must remember that I am not accustomed to defeat." + +"True," returned the king blandly, "so now you had better take to the +heavy stone and come off the victor." + +Gunrig at once went down into the arena and sent a challenge to Bladud. + +The latter had returned to his place among the spectators, but his +height rendered him easy to find. He accepted the challenge at once, +and, as no other competitor for the heavy stone offered, the two had it +all to themselves. This was no matter of wonder, for the heaviest stone +among those laid out for trial was of a weight that many of the young +men or warriors could barely lift, while the stoutest of them could not +have thrown it more than a few feet. + +Boiling over as he was with indignation, Gunrig felt as if he was endued +with more than usual strength. He lifted the stone with ease, faced the +platform, heeled the line, and hurled the stone violently over his head, +so that it fell with a heavy thud far behind him. Then Bladud took it +up. + +"Oh! what a stout man he is!" whispered Branwen to Hafrydda, "and what a +handsome face!" + +"That is true; and I hope he will win," replied the princess. + +"Hush! child, the king will be displeased if he hears you," said her +mother earnestly. "What ever you think, keep silence." + +The queen spoke with such unwonted energy that Hafrydda was surprised, +but her thoughts were instantly diverted to Bladud, who made a +magnificent cast and sent the stone a yard further than his opponent. +But Gunrig seized it again and hurled it a foot beyond that. + +"Well done," said the king. "Go on. It is the best in three heaves +that wins." + +Bladud grasped the stone and hurled it back over his head with all his +force. Up and up it went as if it had resolved to become an aerolite +and visit the moon! Then down it came with a mighty thud ten yards +beyond Gunrig's mark. + +Once more the air rang with the enthusiastic plaudits of the multitude, +while the king ordered the victor to approach the stand. + +Bladud did so with some trepidation, for now he knew that he would have +to speak, and feared that though his appearance had not betrayed him, +his voice would probably do so. + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +A NOTABLE DUEL FOLLOWED BY CHANGES AND PLOTS. + +Every eye was riveted with admiration and curiosity on the young +stranger as he approached. + +"You have acquitted yourself well, young man," said the king, "and it +becomes us to invite you to our palace and to ask if we can serve you in +any way." + +Bladud had a deep voice, and, by way of increasing his chances of +concealing his identity, he pitched it a note or two lower than usual as +he replied. + +"I thank you, sir, for your hospitality and gladly accept it. As to +your offer to serve me, I would count it a favour if you will permit me +to enter into combat with one of your friends." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed the king, in great surprise, "that is a strange +request, but I may not deny you. Which of my warriors may it be?" + +"It is none of your warriors, sir," answered Bladud, "but one of your +guests who has, I am told, challenged whoever will to fight him for the +hand of your fair daughter. I am here now to accept that challenge and +to fight with Gunrig if he will." + +"Assuredly, young man, your ambition or presumption seems equal to your +prowess," returned the king with an offended look; "know ye not that +this challenge was delivered to chiefs of this country, not to unknown +strangers, and although I admit that your tongue seems well accustomed +to our language, it has a foreign smack about it which does not belong +to those who are home-bred." + +"I am a chief," answered Bladud, proudly, "and this is my native land." + +"What is your name, then, and where come ye from?" demanded the king. + +"That I may not answer just now, but I am here, in your power, if what I +say be not found true, you may do what you will with me. Meanwhile I +ask permission to accept the challenge." + +At this point Gunrig, unable to restrain himself longer, sprang forward. + +"Grant him permission, king," he cried. "If I were not ready to abide +by my word I were not worth my salt. Nay, indeed, whether you grant him +permission or not I will fight him, for he has twice beaten me this day, +and now insults me, therefore there is a deadly feud between us." + +"You were always a hot-head, Gunrig," replied the king, with a grim +smile. "But have your way. Only it does not follow that if you lose +the day I will give my child to the conqueror." + +"Be that as you choose," said Gunrig, "I am now ready." + +As he spoke the fiery chief grasped his shield, leaped down into the +arena and drew his sword. + +Bladud was not slow to follow. In those days action usually followed +close on the heels of purpose, and as the laws of chivalry had not yet +been formulated there was no braying of trumpets or tedious ceremonial +to delay the combat. + +"Oh! I do hope he will conquer," whispered the Princess Hafrydda to her +dark-eyed companion, "and save me from that horrid man." + +"I hope so too," returned Branwen, in a subdued voice, "but--" + +She stopped abruptly, and a blush deepened the rich colour of her cheek, +which she sought to conceal by drawing her shawl still closer over it. +This was needless, for the clash of swords at the moment, as the +combatants met in deadly conflict, claimed the exclusive attention of +the damsels, and caused the entire concourse to press close around the +barricades with eager interest. + +"A strange way to mark his home-coming," muttered Captain Arkal, +thrusting himself as near to the scene of action as possible, closely +followed by Maikar, who, being little, kept easily in his wake. + +"He knows well what he's about," returned the little man, whose +admiration for Bladud was great, and his belief in him unbounded. + +Maikar was one of those men--of whom there are no doubt thousands--who +powerfully appreciate, almost venerate, and always recognise, the spirit +of justice when displayed by their fellows, although they may not always +be aware of the fact that they do recognise it--hence his belief in the +prince. + +"A good day for the land if that long-legged fellow slays him," remarked +one of the crowd. + +"That's true," said another. + +Indeed, this seemed to be the opinion of most of the spectators; there +was also a general expression of confidence that the stranger was sure +to be victorious, but some objectors--of whom there are, and necessarily +must be a considerable number in the world--held that Gunrig was a stout +man to tackle, and it was not always length of limb that gained the day. + +Such comments, however, were not numerous, for the concourse soon became +too deeply absorbed to indulge in speech. + +The fight that now ensued gave some weight to the objectors' views. + +At first the combatants rushed at each other with the ferocity of men +who mean to settle a dispute by instant and mutual destruction, and +there was a sort of gasp of excited surprise among the people as the two +swords fell at the same moment with something like a thunderclap on the +respective shields. Feeling that neither could overcome the other by +the might of a resistless blow, each, after one or two rapid cuts, +thrusts, and guards, ascertained that his adversary was so nearly his +match as to render great care needful. They retired a few paces, and +then advancing, settled down to their work, point to point and foot to +foot. + +Gunrig, although inferior in stature to the prince, was about equal to +him in strength and weight, and, being a trained warrior in the prime of +life, was possessed of a sturdy endurance which, to some extent, made up +for the other's superior agility. In other respects they seemed well +matched, for each was highly trained and expert in the use of his +weapons. + +After a second onset, somewhat similar to the first, and with much the +same result, the two went at each other with cut and thrust so rapidly +that it was almost impossible to distinguish their swords as they +flashed like gleaming flames in the sunshine. + +Suddenly Gunrig drew back, and, springing at the prince with uplifted +weapon, as if to cut him down, changed the attack into a quick thrust +which, passing under the youth's uplifted shield, went straight to his +breast. But the quick eye of Bladud detected the intention in time. +Leaping lightly backward, he caused the thrust to come short; at the +same time he returned with a quick thrust at the chief's right shoulder +which took effect slightly. Giving him no time to recover, he made a +sweeping cut at Gunrig's neck, which, had it fallen, would have shorn +his head from his shoulders, but the chief, instead of guarding it, +suddenly stooped, and, as the sword passed whistling above him, returned +with a thrust so fierce that it pierced right through the thick shield +opposed to it. + +Here was an opportunity of which Bladud was not slow to avail himself. +Although the arm which held it was slightly wounded, he gave the shield +a violent and sudden twist, which not only held the weapon fast but +nearly wrenched it out of the chief's hand. An ordinary sword would +have been snapped, but Gunrig's weapon was a big bronze one that had +done service in many a fray, and its owner's hand was strong. He held +it fast, but before he could withdraw it and recover himself Bladud cut +him fair over the head. Whether it was accident or design no one could +tell, but the flat instead of the edge of his sword descended on the +headpiece, and the blow which should otherwise have cleft his adversary +to the chin only stretched him insensible on the field. + +A great sigh of relief, mingled with wild cheers of satisfaction, +greeted this effective termination of the fight, and the king was +evidently not ill-pleased. + +"Pick him up, some of you," he said, pointing to the prostrate Gunrig, +"and carry him to the palace. See that he is well cared for. Go, +Branwen, and see that everything is properly done for him." + +Branwen at once left the stand, and the king, descending into the arena, +proceeded to congratulate the victor. + +Before he could do so, however, to his unbounded surprise, the queen +also descended with her daughter and threw her arms round the prince's +neck, while Hafrydda seized his hand and covered it with kisses. + +"Body of me! am I dreaming?" cried the king, after a few moments of +speechless amazement. + +"Oh! Bladud," exclaimed the queen, looking up in his smiling face, "did +you really think you could deceive your own mother? Fie, fie, I would +have recognised you if you had come with your face painted black." + +By this time the king had recovered, and realised the fact that his +long-lost son had returned home. He strode towards him, and, grasping +his hand, essayed to speak, but something in his throat rendered speech +impossible. King Hudibras was a stern man, however, and scorned to show +womanly weakness before his people. He turned suddenly round, kicked a +few courtiers out of his way, remounted the platform, and, in a loud +voice, announced the conclusion of the sports. + +Great was the rejoicing among the people assembled there, when the news +spread that the long-lost Prince Bladud had returned home, and that the +tall youth who had defeated Gunrig was he, and they cheered him with +even more zest and energy than they had at the moment of his victory. + +Meanwhile Gunrig, having been conveyed to the residence of the king, was +laid on a couch. The palace was, we need scarcely say, very unlike our +modern palaces, being merely a large hut or rude shanty of logs, +surrounded by hundreds of similar but smaller huts, which composed this +primitive town. The couch on which the chief lay was composed of +brushwood and leaves. But Gunrig did not lie long upon it. He was a +tough man, as well as a stout, and he had almost recovered consciousness +when the princess, returning from the games, arrived to assist her +friend in attending to the king's commands. + +She found Branwen about to enter the chamber, in which the chief lay, +with a bandage. + +"Hast heard the news?" she asked, with a gladsome smile. + +"Not I," replied Branwen, in a rather sharp tone. + +"Whatever it is, it seems to have made you happy." + +"Truly it has. But let us go in with the bandages first. The news is +too good to be told in a hurry." + +The sound of their voices as they entered aroused Gunrig completely, and +he rose up as they approached. + +"My father sent us," said the princess in some confusion, "to see that +you are well cared for. Your wounds, I hope, are not dangerous?" + +"Dangerous, no; and they will not prevent me from speedily avenging +myself on the young upstart who has appeared so suddenly to claim you +for a bride. Stay, you need not go so quickly, or toss your head in +pride. I will stand by my word, and let him keep who wins. But I have +a word to say to you, Branwen. Come along with me." + +Wooers among the ancient Albionites were not, it would seem, celebrated +for politeness--some of them, at least! The chief seized the shrinking +girl by the wrist as he spoke, and led her out of the house and into a +neighbouring thicket, where he bade her sit down on a fallen tree. + +"Now," he said, sitting down beside her, and putting his arm round her +waist, despite her objections, "this young turkey-cock has fairly won +Hafrydda, and he is welcome to her for all that I care--that is, if he +lives to claim her hand after our next meeting, for, since I've seen +your pretty face, Branwen, I would rather wed you than the fairest lass +that ever owned to Norland blood. What say you to take the princess's +place and become my wife?" + +"Oh! no, no," exclaimed Branwen, in great distress, trying to disengage +his arm, "you love Hafrydda, and it is impossible that you can love us +both! Let me go." + +"I'm not so sure that I ever really cared for the princess," replied the +chief; "but of this I am quite sure, that I never loved her half as much +as I love you, Branwen." + +The girl tore herself away from him, and, standing up with flushed face +and flashing eyes, exclaimed-- + +"Shame would crush you, if you were a brave man, for uttering such a +speech. But you are _not_ brave; you are a coward, and your late +opponent will teach you that. Be sure that I will never consent to wed +one who is a disgrace to manhood." + +A fierce scowl crossed Gunrig's swarthy countenance, but it passed in a +moment, and a look of admiration replaced it as he looked up with a +smile. + +"I like maids with your temper," he said, still keeping his seat, "but +you forget that if the king so wills it, you shall be compelled to +accept me, and I think the king will scarce dare to thwart my wishes, +especially now that another man has a right to the princess." + +"I defy you," returned the girl, still at a white heat of indignation, +"and if the king tries to force me to wed you, I will defy him too! The +young stranger will be my champion--or, if he should refuse, there are +other ways by which a helpless girl may escape from tyrants." + +She turned with these words and fled. Gunrig sprang up to pursue, but, +fortunately for the girl, a modest bramble, that scarce ventured to +raise its branches above the ground, caught his foot and sent him +headlong into a rotten stump, which seemed only too ready to receive +him. Extracting his head from its embrace, he stood up in a bewildered +frame of mind, found that the light-footed Branwen had escaped him, and +sat down again on the fallen tree to recover his equanimity. + +Meanwhile the poor girl ran back to the palace, rushed into Hafrydda's +room, threw herself on a couch, and burst into tears. + +This was such an unwonted exhibition of weakness in Branwen that the +princess stood looking at her for a few moments in silent surprise. +Then she sought to comfort her, and made her relate, bit by bit, with +many a sob between, what had occurred. + +"But why do you cry so bitterly?" asked Hafrydda. "It is so unlike you +to give way to despair. Besides, you defied him, you say, and you were +right to do so, for my dear father will never force you to wed against +your wishes." + +"I know better," returned the other, with some bitterness. "Did he not +intend to make _you_ wed against your wishes?" + +"That is true," replied the gentle Hafrydda, with a sigh. "But I am +saved from that now," she added, brightening up suddenly, "and that +reminds me of the good news. Do you know who the handsome youth is who +rescued me from this monster?" + +"No, I don't; and I'm sure I don't care," answered Branwen, with a touch +of petulance. "At all events, I suppose you will be glad of the change +of husbands." + +"He will never be my husband," returned the princess, somewhat amused by +her friend's tone, for she suspected the cause. "He is my brother +Bladud--my long-lost brother!" + +The change that came over Branwen's pretty face on hearing this was +remarkable. + +"Your brother!" she exclaimed. "No wonder that he is beautiful, as well +as brave!" + +A merry laugh broke from the princess as she kissed her friend. "Well, +but," she said, "what will you do? You know that always, when I have +been perplexed or in trouble, I have come to you for help and advice. +Now that things are turned the other way, I know not what advice to give +you." + +"I have settled what to do," answered Branwen, drying her eyes, and +looking up with the air of one whose mind has been suddenly and firmly +made up. "Your father, I know, will consent to Gunrig's wishes. If he +did not, there would be war again--horrible war--between the tribes. I +will never be the cause of that if I can help it. At the same time, it +would kill me to wed with Gunrig. I would rather die than that; +therefore--I will run away." + +"And leave me?" exclaimed the princess anxiously. + +"Well, I should have to leave you, at any rate, if I stay and am +compelled to marry Gunrig." + +"But where will you run to?" + +"That I will not tell, lest you should be tempted to tell lies to your +father. Just be content to know that I shall not be far away, and that +in good time you shall hear from me. Farewell, dear Hafrydda, I dare +not stay, for that--that monster will not be long in hatching and +carrying out some vile plot--farewell." + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +PLOTS AND PLANS. + +About three miles beyond the outskirts of King Hudibras' town--the name +of which has now, like many other things, been lost in the proverbial +mists of antiquity--an old man dwelt in a sequestered part of the +forest. His residence was a dry cave at the foot of a cliff, or, +rather, a rude hut which, resting against the cliff, absorbed the cave, +so to speak, into its rear premises. + +The old man had a somewhat aquiline nose, a long white beard, and a +grave, but kindly, expression of countenance. He was one of the sons of +Israel--at that time _not_ a despised race. Although aged he was +neither bowed nor weak, but bore himself with the uprightness and vigour +of a man in his prime. When at home, this man seemed to occupy his time +chiefly in gathering firewood, cooking food, sleeping, and reading in a +small roll of Egyptian papyrus which he carried constantly in his bosom. + +He was well known, far and near, as Beniah the merchant, who trafficked +with the Phoenician shipmen; was a sort of go-between with them and the +surrounding tribes, and carried his wares from place to place far and +wide through the land. He was possessed of a wonderful amount of +curious knowledge, and, although he spoke little, he contrived in the +little he said to make a favourable impression on men and women. Being +obliging as well as kind, and also exceedingly useful, people not only +respected Beniah, but treated him as a sort of semi-sacred being who was +not to be interfered with in any way. Even robbers--of whom there were +not a few in those days--respected the Hebrew's property; passed by his +hut with looks of solemnity, if not of awe, and allowed him to come and +go unchallenged. + +Most people liked Beniah. A few feared him, and a still smaller +number--cynics, who have existed since the days of Adam--held him to be +in league with evil spirits. He was a tall, stalwart man, and carried a +staff of oak about six feet long, as a support during his travels. It +had somehow come to be understood that, although Beniah was +pre-eminently a man of peace, it was nevertheless advisable to treat him +with civility or to keep well out of the range of that oaken staff. +Possibly this opinion may have been founded on the fact that, on one +occasion, three big runaway Phoenician seamen, who thought they would +prefer a life in the woods to a life on the ocean wave, had one evening +been directed to Beniah's hut as a place where strangers were never +refused hospitality when they asked it with civility. As those three +seamen made their appearance in the town that same evening, in a very +sulky state of mind, with three broken heads, it was conjectured that +they had omitted the civility--either on purpose or by accident. Be +this as it may, Beniah and his six-foot staff had become objects of +profound respect. + +Evening was drawing on and Beniah was sitting on a stool beside his open +door, enjoying the sunshine that penetrated his umbrageous retreat, and +reading the papyrus scroll already referred to, when the figure of a +woman approached him with timid, hesitating steps. At first the Hebrew +did not observe her, but, as she drew nearer, the crackling of branches +under her light footsteps aroused him. He looked up quickly, and the +woman, running forward, stood before him with clasped hands. + +"Oh! sir," she exclaimed, "have pity on me! I come to claim your +protection." + +"Such protection as you need and I can give you shall have, my daughter; +but it is a strange request to make of such a man, in such a place, and +at such a time. Moreover, your voice is not quite strange to me," added +the old man with a perplexed look. "Surely I have heard it before?" + +"Ay, Beniah, you know my voice and have seen my face," said the woman, +suddenly removing her shawl and revealing to the astonished eyes of the +old man the pretty head and face of Branwen with her wealth of curling +auburn hair. + +"Child," exclaimed the Hebrew, rising and letting fall his roll, while +he took her hand in both of his, "what folly have you been guilty of, +for surely nothing but folly could move you thus to forsake the house of +your friends?" + +"Ay, father, you say truth," returned the girl, her courage returning as +she noted the kindly tone of the old man's voice. "Folly is indeed the +cause of it, but it is the folly of man, not of women." + +Branwen then gave him a detailed account of the duel between Bladud and +Gunrig, as well as of the subsequent proceedings of the latter, with +regard to herself. + +The face of the old man elongated as she proceeded with her narration, +and as it was long by nature--the face, not the narration--its +appearance when she had concluded was solemnising in the extreme. + +"Assuredly you are right, my child, for it is amazing folly in such a +man as Gunrig to suppose he is a fitting mate for you,--though it is no +folly in him to wish to get you for a wife,--and it is no folly in you +to flee from such an undesirable union. But how to help you in this +matter is more difficult to conceive than anything that has puzzled my +brain since the day I left Tyre." + +"Can you not conceal me here till we have time to think what is best to +be done?" asked Branwen simply, "for I will die rather than wed this-- +this monster Gunrig!" + +The Hebrew smiled pitifully, for he saw in the maiden's face and bearing +evidence of a brave, resolute spirit, which would not condescend to +boasting, and had no thought of using exaggerated language. + +"Truly I will conceal you--for a time. But I cannot leave you here +alone when I go on my wanderings. Besides, the king will send out his +hunters all over the land--men who are trained to note the slightest +track of bear, deer, and wolf, and they will find it easy work to +discover your little footprints. No doubt, near the town, and even here +where many wanderers come and go, they will fail to pick up the trail, +but if you venture into the lonely woods the footmarks will certainly +betray you, and if I go with you, my doom will be fixed, for my big +sandal is as well known to the king's hunters as the big nose on my +face, or the white beard on my chin." + +Poor Branwen became, and looked, very miserable on hearing this, for the +idea of hunters and footprints had not once occurred to her. + +"Oh what, then, is to be done?" she asked with a helpless yet eager +look. + +For some time the old man sat in silence, with closed eyes as if in +meditation. Then he said, with a sad smile, that he supposed there was +nothing for it but to reveal one of his secrets to her. + +"I have not many secrets, Branwen," he said, "but the one which I am +about to reveal to you is important. To make it known would be the ruin +of me. Yet I feel that I may trust you, for surely you are a good +girl." + +"No, I'm _not_," cried Branwen, with a look of firmness, yet of +transparent honesty, that amused her companion greatly; "at least," she +continued in a quieter tone, "I don't _feel_ good, and the queen often +tells me that I am _very_ naughty, though I sometimes think she doesn't +mean it. But when I think of that--that monster and his insult to my +dear Hafrydda, and his impudence in wanting me. Oh! I could tear him +limb from limb, and put the bits in the fire so that they could never +come together again!" + +"My dear child," returned Beniah remonstratively, while she paused with +flashing eyes and parted lips, as though she had not yet given vent to +half her wrath, "whatever other folk may say or think of you, you are +good enough in my esteem, but it is wrong to give way thus to wrath. +Come, I will reveal my little secret, and it behoves us to be quick, for +they will soon miss you and send the hunters on your track." + +As he spoke the Hebrew led the refugee through his hut and into the cave +beyond, the darkness at the further end of which was so great, that it +would have been impossible to see but for a stone lamp which stood in a +recess in the wall. This revealed the fact that the place was used as a +kitchen. + +"That is my chimney," said Beniah, taking up the lamp and holding it so +that a large natural hole or crack could be seen overhead, it formed an +outlet to the forest above--though the opening was beyond the reach of +vision. The same crack extended below in the form of a yawning chasm, +five or six feet wide. There seemed to be nothing on the other side of +this chasm except the wall of the cliffs; but on closer inspection, a +narrow ledge was seen with a small recess beyond. Across the chasm lay +a plank which rested on the ledge. + +"This is my secret--at least part of it," said the Hebrew, pointing to +the plank which bridged the chasm. "Give me your hand; we must cross +it." + +Branwen possessed a steady as well as a pretty head. Placing her hand +unhesitatingly in that of her guide, she quickly stood on the ledge, +close to a short narrow passage, by which they reached a smaller cave or +natural chamber in the solid rock. Here, to the girl's intense +surprise, she found herself surrounded by objects, many of which she had +never seen before, while others were familiar enough. Against the wall +were piled webs of cloth of brilliant colours, and garments of various +kinds. In one corner was a heap of bronze and iron weapons, shields and +other pieces of Eastern armour, while in a recess lay piled in a +confused heap many Phoenician ornaments of gold, silver, and bronze, +similar to those which were worn by the warriors and chief men of King +Hudibras' court. It was, in fact, the stock in trade of the Hebrew--the +fount at which he replenished his travelling pack; a pack which was a +great mystery to most of his friends, for, however much they might +purchase out of it, there seemed to be no end to its inexhaustible power +of reproduction. + +"Here," said Beniah, amused at the girl's gaze of astonishment, "ye will +be safe from all your foes till a Higher Power directs us what shall be +done with you, for, to say truth, at this moment my mind is a blank. +However, our present duty is not action but concealment. Water and +dried fruit you will find in this corner. Keep quiet. Let not +curiosity tempt you to examine these things--they might fall and cause +noise that would betray us. When danger is past, I will come again. +Meanwhile, observe now what I am about to do, and try to imitate me." + +He returned to the entrance, and, taking up the plank-bridge, drew it +into the passage, guiding its outer end on a slight branch, which seemed +to have fallen across the chasm accidentally, but which in reality had +been placed there for this purpose. Then, sliding it out again, he +refixed it in position. + +"Is that too hard for you? Try." + +Branwen obeyed, and succeeded so well, that old Beniah commended her on +her aptitude to learn. + +"Now be careful," he added, when about to re-cross the bridge. "Your +life may depend on your attention to my instructions." + +"But what if I should let the plank slip?" said she in sudden anxiety. + +"There is another in the cave on the floor. Besides, I have two or +three planks in the forest ready against such a mishap. Fear not, but +commit yourself to the All-seeing One." + +He crossed over alone, leaving the girl on the other side, and waited +till she had withdrawn the bridge, when he returned to the mouth of the +outer cave, and sat down to continue the perusal of his roll. Branwen +meanwhile returned to the inner cave, or store, and sat down to meditate +on thoughts which had been awakened by the Hebrew's reference to the +All-seeing One. She wondered if there was an All-seeing One at all, +and, if there was, did He see all the wickedness that was done by men-- +ay, and even by women! and did He see the thoughts of her mind and the +feelings of her heart? + +It will be gathered from this, that the maiden was considerably in +advance of the uncivilised age in which she lived, for the ancient +inhabitants of Albion were not addicted to the study of theology, either +natural or speculative. + +"If I but knew of such an All-seeing One," she murmured, "I would ask +Him to help me." + +Raising her eyes as she spoke, she observed the goods piled round the +walls, and the light of the lamp--which had been left with her-- +glittered on the trinkets opposite. This was too much for her. It must +be remembered that, besides living in a barbarous age, she was an +untutored maiden, and possessed of a large share of that love for +"pretty things," which is--rightly or wrongly--believed to be a peculiar +characteristic of the fair sex. Theology, speculative and otherwise, +vanished, she leaped up and, forgetting her host's warning, began to +inspect the goods. + +At first conscience--for she had an active little one--remonstrated. + +"But," she replied, silently, with a very natural tendency to +self-justification, "although Beniah told me not to touch things, I did +not _promise_ not to do so?" + +"True, but your silence was equivalent to a promise," said something +within her. + +"No, it wasn't," she replied aloud. + +"Yes, it was," retorted the something within her in a tone of +exasperating contradiction. + +This was much too subtle a discussion to be continued. She brushed it +aside with a laugh, and proceeded to turn over the things with eager +admiration on her expressive face. Catching up a bright +blue-and-scarlet shawl, large enough to cover her person, she threw it +over her and made great, and not quite successful, efforts to see her +own back. Suddenly she became motionless, and fixed her lustrous brown +eyes on the roof with almost petrified attention. + +A thought had struck her! And she resolved to strike it back in the +sense of pursuing it to a conclusion. + +"The very thing," she said, recovering from petrification, "and I'll +_do_ it!" + +The preliminary step to doing it seemed to be a general turn over of the +Hebrew's shawls, all of which, though many were beautiful, she rejected +one after another until she found an old and considerably worn grey one. +This she shook out and examined with approving nods, as if it were the +finest fabric that ever had issued from the looms of Cashmere. Tying +her luxuriant hair into a tight knot behind, and smoothing it down on +each side of her face, and well back so as not to be obtrusive, she +flung the old shawl over her head, induced a series of wrinkles to +corrugate her fair brow; drew in her lips so as to conceal her teeth, +and, by the same action, to give an aquiline turn to her nose; bowed her +back, and, in short, converted herself into a little old woman! + +At court, Branwen had been celebrated for her powers of mimicry, and had +been a source of great amusement to her companions in the use--sometimes +the abuse--of these powers; but this was the first occasion on which she +had thought of personating an old woman. + +Having thus metamorphosed herself, she looked eagerly round as if in +search of a mirror. It need scarcely be said that glass had not been +heard of by the natives of the Tin Islands or of Albion at that time, +nevertheless, mirrors were not unknown. Espying in a corner, a great +bronze shield, that might once have flashed terror at the siege of +Troy--who knows--she set it up against the wall. It was oval in shape, +and presented her face with such a wide expanse of cheeks, that she +laughed lightly and turned it the other way. This arrangement gave her +visage such lengthened astonishment of expression, that she laughed +again, but was not ill pleased at her appearance on the whole. + +To make the illusion perfect, she sought and found an article of dress, +of which the Albionic name has been forgotten, but which is known to +modern women as a petticoat. It was reddish brown in colour, and, so +far, in keeping with the grey old shawl. + +While she was busy tying on this garment, and otherwise completing her +costume, almost quite forgetful in her amusement of the danger which had +driven her to that strange place, she heard voices in the outer cave, +and among them one which turned her cheeks pale, and banished every +thought of fun out of her heart. It was the voice of Gunrig! + +That doughty warrior--after having partially regained the equanimity +which he had sat down on the fallen tree to recover--arose, and returned +to his apartment in the palace for the double purpose of feeding and +meditation. Being a robust man, he did not feel much the worse for the +events of the morning, and attacked a rib of roast beef with gusto. +Hearing, with great surprise, that his late antagonist was no other than +Bladud, the long-lost son of the king, he comforted himself with another +rib of roast beef, and with the reflection that a prince, not less than +a man-at-arms, is bound to fight a duel when required to do so. Having +finished his meal, he quaffed a huge goblet of spring water, and went +out to walk up and down with his hands behind his back. + +Doubtless, had he lived in modern days, he would have solaced himself +with a glass of bitter and a pipe, but strong drink had not been +discovered in those islands at the time, and smoking had not been +invented. Yet it is generally believed, though we have no authentic +record of the fact, that our ancestors got on pretty well without these +comforts. We refrain, however, from dogmatising on the point, but it is +our duty to state that Gunrig, at all events, got on swimmingly without +them. It is also our duty to be just to opponents, and to admit that a +pipe might possibly have soothed his wrath. + +Of course, on hearing of Branwen's flight, the indignant king summoned +his hunters at once, and, putting the enraged Gunrig himself at the head +of them, sent him fuming into the woods in search of the runaway. They +did not strike the trail at once, because of, as already explained, the +innumerable footprints in the neighbourhood of the town. + +"We can't be long of finding them now," remarked the chief to the +principal huntsman, as they passed the entrance to Beniah's retreat. + +"It may be as well to run up and ask the old man who lives here if he +has seen her," replied the huntsman. "He is a man with sharp eyes for +his years." + +"As you will," said Gunrig sternly, for his wrath had not yet been +appreciably toned down by exercise. + +They found the Hebrew reading at his door. + +"Ho! Beniah, hast seen the girl Branwen pass this way to-day?" cried +Gunrig as he came up. + +"I have not seen her pass," replied the Hebrew, in a tone so mild that +the angry chief suspected him. + +"She's not in your hut, I suppose?" he added sharply. + +"The door is open, you may search it if you doubt me," returned the +Hebrew with a look of dignity, which he knew well how to assume. + +The chief entered at once, and, after glancing sharply round the outer +room entered the kitchen. Here Beniah showed him the chimney, pointed +out the yawning chasm below, and commented on the danger of falling into +it in the dark. + +"And what is there beyond, Hebrew?" asked the chief. + +Beniah held up the lamp. + +"You see," he said, "the rock against which my poor hut rests." + +Then the old man referred to the advantages of the situation for +supplying himself with food by hunting in the forest, as well as by +cultivating the patch of garden beside the hut, until his visitor began +to show signs of impatience, when he apologised for intruding his +domestic affairs at such a time, and finally offered to join and aid the +search party. + +"Aid us!" exclaimed Gunrig in contempt. "Surely we need no aid from +you, when we have the king's head-huntsman as our guide." + +"That may be true, chief, nevertheless in the neighbourhood of my own +hut I could guide you, if I chose, to secret and retired spots, which it +would puzzle even the head-huntsman to find. But I will not thrust my +services upon you." + +"You are over-proud for your station," returned the chief angrily, "and +were it not for your years I would teach you to moderate your language +and tone." + +For a moment the eyes of the old man flashed, and his brows contracted, +as he steadily returned the gaze of Gunrig. In his youth he had been a +man of war, and, as we have said, his strength was not yet much abated +by age, but years and deep thought had brought wisdom to some extent. +With an evident effort he restrained himself, and made no reply. The +chief, deeming his silence to be the result of fear, turned +contemptuously away, and left the hut with his followers. + +During this colloquy, poor Branwen had stood in the dark passage, +listening and trembling lest her hiding-place should be discovered. She +was a strange compound of reckless courage and timidity--if such a +compound be possible. Indignation at the man who had slighted her bosom +friend Hafrydda, besides insulting herself, caused her to feel at times +like a raging lion. The comparative weakness of her slight and graceful +frame made her at other times feel like a helpless lamb. It was an +exasperating condition! When she thought of Gunrig, she wished with all +her heart and soul that she had been born a big brawny man. When she +thought of Bladud, nothing could make her wish to be other than a woman! + +As she stood there listening, there occurred a slight desire to clear +her throat, and she almost coughed. The feeling came upon her like a +shock--what if she had let it out! But a sneeze! It was well known +that sneezes came even to people the most healthy, and at moments the +most inopportune, and well she knew from experience that to repress a +sneeze would ensure an explosion fit to blow the little nose off her +face. If a sneeze should come at that moment, she was lost! + +But a sneeze did not come. The olfactory nerves remained placid, until +the visitors had departed. Then she retreated to the inner cave, drew +the grey shawl over her head, and awaited the development of her plans. + +Presently she heard footsteps, and the voice of the Hebrew calling to +her softly, but she took no notice. After a moment or two it sounded +again, somewhat louder. + +Still no answer. + +Then Beniah shouted, with just a shade of anxiety, "Branwen!" + +Receiving no reply, he ran in much alarm for one of his spare planks; +thrust it over the chasm; crossed, and next moment stood in the inner +cave the very embodiment of astonished consternation, for Branwen was +gone, and in her place stood a little old woman, with a bowed form, and +a puckered-up mouth, gazing at him with half-closed but piercingly dark +eyes! + +The Hebrew was almost destitute of superstition, and a man of great +courage, but this proved too much for him. His eyes opened with +amazement; so did his mouth, and he grew visibly pale. + +The tables were turned at this point. The man's appearance proved too +much for the girl. Her eyes opened wide, her brilliant teeth appeared, +and, standing erect, she burst into a fit of merry laughter. + +"Child!" exclaimed Beniah, his usually grave mouth relaxing into a broad +smile, which proved that his teeth were not less sound than his +constitution, "you have shown to me that fear, or something marvellously +like it, is capable of lurking within my old heart. What mean you by +this?" + +"I mean that there is an idea come into my head which I shall carry +out--if you will allow me. I had thought at first of staying with you +as your grand-daughter or your niece, but then it came into my head that +I could not live long here in such a character without some one who knew +me seeing me and finding me out--though, let me tell you, it would not +be easy to find me out, for I can change my look and voice so that none +but those who know me well could discover me. Then the idea of being an +old woman came into my head, and--you can speak to my success. There is +nothing more natural than that you should have an old woman to take care +of your house while you go on your travels; so I can stay till you go +and see my father and tell him to send for me." + +"Your father lives very far from here," returned the Hebrew, with the +lines of perplexity still resting on his brow. + +"That is true; but Beniah's legs are long and his body is strong. He +can soon let my father know of his daughter's misfortune. You know that +my father is a powerful chief, though his tribe is not so strong in +numbers as the tribe of King Hudibras, or that--that fiend Gunrig. But +his young men and my brothers are very brave." + +"Well, let it be as you say, for the present, my child, and you may +consider this cave your private chamber while you remain in my house. +But let me advise you to keep close when I am absent, and do not be +tempted to prove the strength of your disguise. It may not be as +perfect as you think, and your voice may betray you." + +Having agreed upon this temporary plan, the Hebrew departed to make +preparations for a long journey, while Branwen busied herself in +arranging the apartment in which, for some time at least, she hoped to +remain in hiding. + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +MOTHER AND SON. + +We need scarcely say that the search for Branwen proved fruitless. +Gunrig and the hunters returned to town crestfallen at being unable to +discover the trail of a girl, and the chief went off in undiminished +wrath to his own home--which was distant about a day's journey on foot +from the capital of King Hudibras. + +Even in those savage times warriors were not above taking counsel, +occasionally, with women. The king went to consult on the situation +with the queen, the princess, and Bladud; while Gunrig sought advice and +consolation from his mother. Of course neither of these men would for a +moment have admitted that he needed advice. They only condescended to +let their women-folk know what had occurred, and hear what they had to +say! + +"Why, do you think, has the ungrateful child fled?" asked the king in +some indignation. + +"I cannot imagine," answered the queen. "We have all been so kind to +her, and she was so fond of us and we of her. Besides, her visit was +not half over, and her father would not be pleased if she were to return +home so soon and so unexpectedly." + +Of course Hafrydda knew the cause, but she maintained a discreet +silence. + +"Return home!" echoed the king in contempt, "how can a little delicate +thing like her return home through miles and miles of forest swarming +with wild beasts and not a few wilder men? Impossible! My hunters must +go out again, every day, till she is found. I will lead them myself +since they seem to have lost the power of their craft." + +"Is this `little delicate thing' as beautiful as my sister describes her +to be?" asked Bladud, somewhat amused by his father's tone and manner. + +"Ay, that she is," answered the king. "Beautiful enough to set not a +few of my young men by the ears. Did you not see her on the platform at +the games--or were you too much taken up with the scowling looks of +Gunrig?" + +"I saw the figure of a young woman," answered the prince, "but she kept +a shawl so close round her head that I failed to see her face. As to +Gunrig, I did not think it worth my while to mind him at all, so I saw +not whether his looks were scowling or pleased." + +"Ha! boy--he gave you some trouble, notwithstanding." + +"He has gone away in anger at present, however, so we will let him be +till he returns for another fight." + +Gunrig, meanwhile, having reached his town or village, went straight to +the hut in which his mother dwelt and laid his troubles before her. She +was a calm, thoughtful woman, very unlike her passionate son. + +"It is a bad business," she remarked, after the chief had described the +situation to her, and was striding up and down the little room with his +hands behind his back, "and will require much care in management, for +King Hudibras, as you know, is very fierce when roused, and although he +is somewhat afraid of you, he is like to be roused to anger when he +comes to understand that you have jilted his daughter." + +"But I have not jilted her," said Gunrig, stopping abruptly in his walk, +and looking down upon his parent. "That ass Bladud won her, and +although he does turn out to be her brother, that does not interfere +with his right to break off the engagement if so disposed. Besides, I +do not want to wed the princess now. I have quite changed my mind." + +"Why have you changed your mind, my son?" + +"Because I never cared for her much; and since I went to visit her +father I have seen another girl who is far more beautiful; far more +clever; more winning, in every way." + +The woman looked sharply at the flushed countenance of her son. + +"You love her?" she asked. + +"Ay, that do I, as I never loved woman before, and, truly, as I think I +never shall love again." + +"Then you must get her to wife, my son, for there is no cure for love." + +"Oh, yes, there is, mother," was the light reply of the chief, as he +recommenced to pace the floor. "Death is a pretty sure and sharp cure +for love." + +"Surely you would not kill yourself because of a girl?" + +Gunrig burst into a loud laugh, and said, "Nay, truly, but death may +take the girl, or death may take me--for, as you know, there is plenty +of fighting among the tribes, and my day will surely come, sooner or +later. In either case love will be cured." + +"Can you guess why this girl has fled?" asked the woman. + +Gunrig's brows contracted, and a grim smile played on his lips as he +replied, after a brief pause-- + +"Well, I am not quite sure, mother. It may be that she is not too fond +of me--which only shows her want of taste. But that can be cured when +she finds out what a fine man I am! Anyhow, I will have her, if I +should have to hunt the forest for a hundred moons, and fight all the +tribes put together." + +"And how do you propose to go about it, my son?" + +"That is the very thing I want you to tell me. If it were fighting that +had to be done I would not trouble you--but this is a matter that goes +beyond the wisdom of a plain warrior." + +"Then, if you would gain your end, my son, I should advise you to send a +message to King Hudibras by one of your most trusty men; and let the +message be that you are deeply grieved at the loss of his daughter's +hand; that--" + +"But I'm nothing of the kind, mother, so that would not be true." + +"What does it matter whether true or not, if the king only believes it +to be true?" + +"I don't quite agree, mother, with your notions about truth. To my mind +a warrior should always be straightforward and say what he means." + +"Then go, my son, and tell the king what you have just told me, and he +will cut your head off," replied the dame in a tone of sarcasm. + +"If I act on that advice, I will take my warriors with me and carry my +sword in my hand, so that his head would stand as good a chance of +falling as mine," returned Gunrig with a laugh. "But go on with your +advice, mother." + +"Well, say that you feel in honour bound to give up all claim to his +daughter's hand, but that, as you want a wife very much to keep your +house as your mother is getting too old, you will be content to take his +visitor, Branwen, and will be glad to help in the search for her. Will +you send that message?" + +"It may be that I will. In any case I'll send something like it." + +So saying the chief turned abruptly on his heel and left the room. + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +A TERRIBLE CALAMITY. + +It may be imagined that the return home of Prince Bladud was the cause +of much rejoicing in the whole district as well as in his father's +house. At _first_ the king, being, as we have said, a very stern man, +felt disposed to stand upon his dignity, and severely rebuke the son who +had run away from home and remained away so long. But an undercurrent +of tenderness, and pride in the youth's grand appearance, and great +prowess, induced him to give in with a good grace and extend to him +unreserved forgiveness. + +As for the queen, she made no attempt to conceal her joy and pride, and +the same may be said of the princess. + +There was instituted a series of fetes and games in honour of the return +of the prodigal, at which he was made--not unwillingly--to show the +skill which he had acquired from practising with the competitors at the +Olympic games, about which the islanders had heard from Phoenician +traders from time to time, and great was the interest thus created, +especially when he showed them, among other arts, how to use their fists +in boxing, and their swords in guarding so as to enable them to dispense +with a shield. But these festivities did not prevent him from taking an +interest in the search that his father and the hunters were still making +for Branwen. + +When many days had passed, however, and no word of her whereabouts was +forthcoming, it was at last arranged that a message regarding her +disappearance should be sent to her father's tribe by a party of +warriors who were to be led by the prince himself. + +"I will go gladly," he said to his sister, a day or two before the party +was to set out. "For your sake, Hafrydda, I will do my best to clear up +the mystery; and I think it highly probable that I shall find the +runaway safely lodged in her father's house." + +"I fear not," returned Hafrydda, with a sad look. "It seems impossible +that she could have made her way so far alone through the wild forests." + +"But she may not have been alone. Friends may have helped her." + +"She had no friends in the town, having been here but a short time," +objected the princess. "But do your best to find her, Bladud, for I +feel quite sure that you will fall in love with her when you see her." + +The youth laughed. + +"No fear of that," he said, "many a pretty girl have I seen in the East; +nevertheless I have, as you see, left them all without a thought of ever +returning again." + +"But I did not say you would fall in love with Branwen because she is +pretty. I feel sure that you will, because she is sweet, and merry, and +good--yet thoughtful--wonderfully thoughtful!" + +"Ay, and you may add," said the queen, who came into the room just then, +"that she is sometimes thoughtless and wonderfully full of mischief." + +"Nay, mother, you are not just," returned the princess. "Her mischief +is only on the surface, her thoughtfulness lies deep down." + +"Well, well, whatever may be the truth regarding her, I shall not +trouble my head about her; for I have never yet felt what men call love, +and I feel sure I never shall." + +"I like to hear you say that, brother," rejoined Hafrydda; "for I have +noticed, young though I am, that when men say they will never fall in +love or marry, they are always pretty near the point of doing one or +both." + +But poor Bladud was destined to do neither at that time, for an event +was hanging over him, though he knew it not, which was to affect very +seriously the whole of his after life. + +For several days previous to the above conversation, he had felt a +sensation that was almost new to him--namely, that of being slightly +ill. Whether it was the unwonted exertions consequent on his efforts at +the games, or the excitement of the return home, we cannot say, but +headache, accompanied by a slight degree of fever, had troubled him. +Like most strong men in the circumstances, he adopted the Samsonian and +useless method of "shaking it off"! He went down into the arena and +performed feats of strength and agility that surprised even himself; but +the fever which enabled him to do so, asserted itself at last, and +finally compelled him to do what he should have done at first--pocket +his pride and give in. + +Of course we do not suggest that giving in to little sensations of +ailment is either wise or manly. There are duties which call on men to +fight even in sickness--ay, in spite of sickness--but "showing off" in +the arena was not one of these. + +Be this as it may, Bladud came at last to the condition of feeling +weak--an incomprehensible state of feeling to him. He thereupon went +straight home, and, flinging himself half petulantly on a couch, +exclaimed--"Mother, I am ill!" + +"My son, I have seen that for many days past, and have waited with some +anxiety till you should come to the point of admitting it." + +"And now that I have admitted it," returned the youth with a languid +smile, "what is to be done?" + +The answer to that question was not the simple one of modern days, "Send +for the doctor," because no doctors worthy of the name existed. There +was, indeed, a solemn-visaged, long-headed, elderly man among King +Hudibras' followers who was known as the medicine-man to the royal +household, but his services were not often in request, because people +were seldom ill, save when they were going to die, and when that time +came it was generally thought best to let them die in peace. This +medicine-man, though a quack in regard to physic, was, however, a true +man, as far as his knowledge went in surgery--that is to say, he was +expert at the setting of broken bones, when the fractures were not too +compound; he could bandage ordinary wounds; he had even ventured into +the realm of experimental surgery so far as to knock out a decayed back +tooth with a bronze chisel and a big stone. But his knowledge of drugs +was naturally slight, and his power of diagnosis feeble. Still, +unworthy though he may be of the title, we will for convenience style +him the doctor. + +"My poor boy," said the queen, in answer to his question, and laying her +hand on his hot brow, "I am so sorry that we cannot have the services of +our doctor, for he is away hunting just now--you know he is very fond of +the bow and line. Perhaps he may--" + +"Oh, never mind the doctor, mother," said Bladud impatiently, with that +slighting reference to the faculty which is but too characteristic of +youth; "what do _you_ think ought to be done? You were always doctor +enough for me when I was little; you'll do equally well now that I am +big." + +"Be not hasty, my son. You were always hot-headed and--" + +"I'm hot-headed _now_, at all events, and argument won't tend to cool +it. Do what you will with it, for I can stand this no longer. Cut it +off if you like, mother, only use a sharp knife and be quick about it." + +In those days, far more than in this our homeopathic era, it was the +habit of the mothers of families to keep in store certain herbs and +roots, etcetera, which, doubtless, contained the essences now held in +modern globules. With these they contrived decoctions that were +unquestionably more or less beneficial to patients when wisely applied. +To the compounding of something of this sort the queen now addressed +herself. After swallowing it, the prince fell asleep. + +This was so far well; but in the morning he was still so far from well, +that the visit to Branwen's father had to be postponed. Several days +elapsed before the doctor returned from his hunting expedition. By that +time the fever had left the prince. He began to get somewhat better, +and to go about, but still felt very unlike his old self. During this +what we may style semi-convalescent period, Captain Arkal and little +Maikar proved of great use and comfort to him, for they not only brought +him information about the games--which were still kept up--but cheered +him with gossipy news of the town in general, and with interesting +reminiscences of their late voyage and the Eastern lands they had so +recently left. + +One day these faithful friends, as well as the queen and princess, were +sitting by Bladud's couch--to which unaccountable fits of laziness +confined him a good deal--when the medicine-man was announced. + +He proceeded at once to examine the patient, while the others stood +aside and looked on with that profound respect which ignorance +sometimes, though not always, assumes in the presence of knowledge. + +The doctor laid his hand on Bladud's brow, and looked earnestly into his +eyes. Then he tapped his back and chest, as if to induce some one in +his interior to open a door and let him in--very much as doctors do +now-a-days. Then he made him remove his upper garments, and examined +his broad and brawny shoulders. A mark, or spot, of a whitish +appearance between the left shoulder and the elbow, at once riveted his +attention, and caused an almost startled expression on his grave +countenance. But the expression was momentary. It passed away and left +the visage grave and thoughtful--if possible, more thoughtful than +before. + +"That will do," he said, turning to the queen. "Your treatment was the +best that could have been applied. I must now see his father, the +king." + +"Alone?" asked the queen. + +"Alone," replied the doctor. + +"Well, what think ye of Bladud?" asked the king, when his physician +entered his chamber, and carefully shut the door. + +"He is smitten with a fatal disease," said the doctor in a low, earnest +voice. + +"Not absolutely fatal?" cried the king, with sudden anxiety. + +"As far as I know it is so. There is no cure that I ever heard of. +Bladud is smitten with leprosy. It may be years before it kills him, +but it will surely do so at last." + +"Impossible--impossible!" cried the king, becoming fierce and +unbelieving in his horror. "You are too confident, my medicine-man. +You may, you must, be mistaken. There is a cure for everything!" + +"Not for leprosy," returned the doctor, with sad but firm emphasis. "At +least I never heard of a cure being effected, except by some of the +Eastern wise men." + +"Then, by all the gods that protect our race and family, my son shall +return to the East and one of these wise men shall cure him--else-- +else--Have ye told the queen?" + +"Not yet." + +"That is well. I will myself tell her. Go!" This summary dismissal +was nothing new to the doctor, who understood the king well, and +sympathised with his obvious distress. Pausing at the door, however, he +said-- + +"I have often talked with Phoenician captains about this disease, and +they tell me that it is terribly infectious, insomuch that those who are +smitten with it are compelled to live apart and keep away from men. If +Bladud remains here the disease will surely spread through the house, +and thence through the town." + +Poor Hudibras fell into a chair, and covered his face with both hands, +while the doctor quietly retired. + +It is impossible to describe the consternation that ensued when the +terrible fact was made known. Of course the news spread into the town, +and the alarm became general, for at various times the Phoenician +mariners had entertained the islanders with graphic descriptions of the +horrors connected with this loathsome disease, and it soon became +evident, that even if the king and his family were willing to run the +risk of infection by keeping Bladud near them, his people and warriors +would insist on the banishment of the smitten man. + +To Bladud himself the blow was almost overwhelming--almost, but not +quite, for the youth was possessed of that unselfish, self-sacrificing +spirit which, in all ages of the world's history, has bid defiance to +misfortune, by bowing the head in humble submission to the will of God. +He knew well the nature of the dread disease by which he had been +attacked, and he shuddered at the thought that, however long he might be +spared to live, it would sap his strength, disfigure his person, and +ultimately render his face hideous to look upon, while a life of +absolute solitude must from that day forward be his portion. No wonder +that in the first rush of his dismay, he entertained a wild thought of +putting an end to his own existence. There was only one gleam of +comfort to him, and that was, the recollection that he had caught the +disease in a good cause--in the rescue of a poor old woman from +destruction. The comfort of the thought was not indeed great, still it +was something in the awful desolation that overwhelmed him at the time. + +While travelling in the East, a short time previous to setting sail for +home, he had come across an old woman who was being chased by a wild +bull. Her flight would have been short-lived in any case, for there +chanced to be a steep precipice not far from her, towards which she ran +in her terror and scrambled hastily down until she reached a spot where +she could go no further without losing her foothold. To the rock she +clung and screamed in her despair. + +It was her screams that first attracted Bladud's attention. Rushing +forward, he was just in time to see the bull--which could not check its +mad career--plunge over the cliff, at the bottom of which it was killed +by the fall. + +Bladud at once began to descend to the help of the poor woman. As he +did so, the words "unclean! unclean!" met his ear. The woman was a +leper, and, even in her dire extremity, the force of habit caused her to +give the usual warning which the Eastern law requires. A shudder passed +through the prince's frame, for he knew well the meaning of the cry--but +as he looked down and saw the disfigured face and the appealing eyes +turned towards him, a gush of intense pity, and of that disregard of +self which is more or less characteristic of all noble natures, induced +him to continue his descent until he reached the poor creature. +Grasping her tightly round the waist, he assisted her up the perilous +ascent, and finally placed her in safety at the top of the cliff. + +For a time Bladud felt some anxiety as to the result of the risk he had +run, but did not mention his adventure to any one. Gradually the fear +wore off, and at length that feeling of invulnerability which is so +strong in youth, induced him to dismiss the subject from his thoughts +altogether. He had quite forgotten it until the doctor's statement fell +upon him with the stunning violence of a thunder-clap. + +It is usually when deep sorrows and great difficulties are sent to them, +that men and women find out the quality of their natures. Despair, +followed by listless apathy, might well have seized on one who, a few +days before, possessed all the advantages of great physical strength and +manly beauty, with what appeared to be sound health and a bright life +before him. But, instead of giving way, he silently braced himself for +a lifelong conflict. He did not turn, in his extremity, to the gods of +his fathers--whatever these might be--for he did not believe in them, +but he did believe in one good supreme Being. To Him he raised his +heart, offered an unspoken prayer, and felt comforted as well as +strengthened in the act. + +Then, being a man of prompt action, he thoughtfully but quickly formed +his plans, having previously made fast his door--for well he knew that +although his strong-minded father might keep him at arm's-length, his +loving mother and sister would not only come to talk with him, but +would, despite all risks, insist on embracing him. + +That he was not far wrong was proved the same evening, for when the king +revealed the terrible news to his wife and daughter, they went straight +to Bladud's door and knocked for admission. + +"Who goes there?" demanded the prince. + +"Your mother. Let me in, Bladud." + +"I may not do so just now, dear mother. Tomorrow you shall know all. +Rest content. I feel better." + +In the dead of night Bladud went out softly and sought the hut where +Captain Arkal and Maikar slept. He found them conversing in great +sorrow about the terrible calamity that had overtaken their friend when +he entered. They started up in surprise to receive him. + +"Keep off," he said, shrinking back. "Touch me not! I know not whether +the disease may not be catching even at its present stage. Sit down. I +will stand here and tell you what I want you to tell my mother in the +morning." + +The two men silently obeyed, and the prince continued. + +"I am on the point of leaving home--it may be for ever. The Disposer of +all things knows that. The disease, as you know, is thought to be +incurable. If so, I shall die where no one shall find me. If health +returns I shall come back. It will be of no use to search for me; but I +think that will not be attempted. Indeed, I know that my father would +be compelled to banish me if I wished to remain at home. It is partly +to spare him the pain of doing so that I banish myself of my own accord; +and partly to avoid leaving infection behind me that I go without +farewell. Let my dear mother and sister understand this clearly--and-- +comfort them if you can." + +"But where will you go to and what will you do?" asked the captain +anxiously. + +"That I do not yet know. The forests are wide. There is plenty of room +for man and beast. This only will I reveal to you. To-night I shall +call at the hut of Beniah the Hebrew. He is a wise man and will advise +me. If I send news of myself it shall be through him. But tell not +this to any one. It would only bring trouble on the old man. Farewell, +my comrades. I will remember you as brothers--always. May the +All-powerful One watch over us." + +Unable to restrain himself, little Maikar sprang up with the obvious +intention of rushing at his friend and seizing his hand, but the prince +stepped back, shut the door against him, and, in another moment, was +gone. + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +AN EAVESDROPPER IN THE CAVE. + +An hour later Beniah the Hebrew, who had been obliged to postpone for a +time his journey to the North, was startled by hearing footsteps +approaching his hut in the dell. It was so unusual an event at that +hour of the night, that he arose quickly and grasped the six-foot staff +which was his only weapon. + +At a much earlier hour Branwen had retired to rest in the inner cave, +and was buried in that profound sleep which proverbially accompanies +innocence and youth. The noise in the outer cave partially aroused her, +but, turning on her other side with a profound sigh, she prepared for a +little more of the perquisites of innocence and youth. Presently she +was startled into a condition of absolute wide-awakeness by the sound of +a well-known voice, but it suddenly changed into that of the Hebrew. + +"I've dreamt it, I suppose," she muttered, in a tone of regret; +nevertheless, she listened. + +"Come in," said Beniah, evidently to some one outside of his door. + +"I may not enter--I am a leper," answered the first voice; and Branwen +sat up, with her great beautiful eyes opened to the utmost, and +listening intently, though she could not make out clearly what was said. + +"It matters not; I have no fear. Come in. What! Prince Bladud!" +exclaimed Beniah in astonishment as our hero entered. + +"Even so. But how is it that you know me?" + +"I saw you once, and, once seen, you are not easily forgotten. But what +mean ye about being a leper?" + +"Keep at a safe distance, and I will tell you." + +Hereupon the prince began to give the old man an account of his illness; +the opinion expressed by the doctor as to its nature; and the +determination he had formed of forsaking home, and retiring to the +solitude of some unfrequented part of the forest for the remainder of +his life. + +It would have been a sight worth looking at--had there been light to see +it--the vision of Branwen, as she stood in the passage in partial +_deshabille_, with her eyes wide, her lips parted, her heart beating, +and a wealth of auburn hair curling down her back, listening, as it +were, with every power of her soul and body. But she could not hear +distinctly. Only a disconnected word reached her now and then. In a +state of desperate curiosity she returned to her cave. + +A few minutes later a noise was heard by the two men in the outer cave; +and a little old woman in a grey shawl was seen to thrust a plank over +the chasm and totter across towards them. + +Poor Beniah was horrified. He did not know what to do or say. Happily +he was one of those men whose feelings are never betrayed by their +faces. + +The old woman hobbled forward and sat down on a stool close to them. +Looking up in their faces, she smiled and nodded. + +In doing so she revealed the fact that, besides having contorted her +face into an unrecognisable shape, she had soiled it in several places +with streaks of charcoal and earth. + +"Who is this?" asked Bladud in surprise. Before the old man could +reply, the old woman put her hand to her ear, and, looking up in the +prince's face, shouted, in tones that were so unlike to her own natural +voice that Beniah could scarce believe his ears-- + +"What say you, young man? Speak out; I'm very deaf." + +With a benignant smile Bladud said that he had merely asked who she was. + +"Haven't you got eyes, young man? Don't you see that I'm a little old +woman?" + +"I see that," returned the prince, with a good-humoured laugh; "and I +fear you're a deaf old woman, too." + +"Eh?" she said, advancing her head, with her hand up at the ear. + +"You seem indeed to be extremely deaf," shouted the prince. + +"What does he say?" demanded the old woman, turning to the Hebrew. + +By this time Beniah had recovered his self-possession. Perceiving that +the maiden was bent on carrying out her _role_, and that he might as +well help her, he put his mouth close to her ear, and shouted in a voice +that bid fair to render her absolutely deaf-- + +"He says he thinks you are extremely deaf; so I think you had better +hold your tongue and let us go on with our conversation." + +"Deaf, indeed!" returned the woman in a querulous tone; "so I am, though +I hear you well enough when you shout like that. Perhaps he'll be as +deaf as I am when he's as old. There's nothing like youth for pride and +impudence. But go on, never mind me." + +"She's a poor creature who has sought refuge with me from her +persecutors," said Beniah, turning to the prince, while the old woman +fell to crooning a wild song in a low voice, accompanying the music--if +such it may be called--by a swaying motion of her body to and fro. + +Seeing that she meant to sit there, and that she apparently heard +nothing, Bladud resumed the conversation where it had been interrupted. + +"Now, as I was saying, you know the country in all directions, and can +tell me of the most likely part where I can find what I want--a solitude +where I shall be able to escape from the face of man, and build a hut to +live in till I die. It may be long, it may be short, before death +relieves me. Meanwhile, I can hunt and provide myself with food till +the time comes." + +The crooning of the old woman stopped at this point, and she sank her +face on her hands as if she had fallen asleep. + +"I know of a man--a hunter," said Beniah, "a wild sort of being, who +lives a long way from here, in a beautiful part of the land, where there +is a wonderful swamp with a hot spring in the midst of it. Besides +hunting, the man who lives there cultivates the ground a little, and +keeps a few cattle and pigs. It may be that he can put you in the way +of finding what you want; and you need not tell him about your disease, +for you are not yet sure about it. Thus you will have an opportunity of +keeping out of the way of men until you find out whether the doctor is +right about it. He may be wrong, you know. Diseases sometimes resemble +each other without being the same." + +Bladud shook his head. + +"There can be no doubt that I am doomed," he said. "I know the disease +too well." + +The Hebrew also believed that, if the doctor was right in his opinion, +there was no hope for the youth. Being unwilling, however, to dwell +upon this point, he asked-- + +"How did you come by it?" + +"Very simply," answered the prince, who thereupon entered into a graphic +account of the incident which we have already recorded. Having done so, +he made up his mind, after some further talk, to pay a visit to the +hunter who dwelt in the region of the Hot Swamp. + +"But you will not surely go without arms?" said Beniah. + +"Why not? If I am doomed to die at any rate, why should I take the life +of any man to save my own?" + +"Let me at least give you a bow and a sheaf of arrows. You cannot +procure food without these." + +"Well, you are right. I will accept your kind offer. To say truth, my +heart was so crushed at first by this blow, that such matters did not +occur to me when I left; for it is terrible to think of having to die of +a slow disease without father, mother, or sister to comfort one!" + +"It is indeed, my son," returned Beniah with much feeling. "If you will +accept it, I can give you a word of comfort." + +"Give it me," said Bladud; "for I need it much,--if it be but true." + +"It is true," returned the Hebrew earnestly; "for in one of the books of +our holy men who spoke for the All-Father, it is written, `When my +father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.'" + +"It is a good word," returned the prince; "and I can well believe it +comes from the All-Father, for is He not also All-Good? Yet I can +scarcely claim it as mine, for my father and mother have not forsaken +me, but I them." + +A few minutes more, and Bladud rose to depart. He took the bow and +arrows in his left hand, and, totally forgetting for the moment the duty +of keeping himself aloof from his fellow-men, he shook hands warmly with +Beniah, patted the old woman kindly on the shoulder, and went out into +the dark night. + +The moment he was gone Branwen started up with flashing eyes that were +still bedewed with tears, and seized the old man's hand. + +"Child," he said, "thou hast been weeping." + +"Who could listen to his telling of that old woman's escape from the +bull and the precipice without tears?" she replied. "But tell me, what +is this terrible disease that has smitten the prince?" + +"It is one well known and much dreaded in the East--called leprosy." + +Here the Hebrew went into a painfully graphic account of the disease; +the frightful disfigurement it caused, and its almost, if not quite, +certain termination in death. + +"And have the queen and Hudibras actually let him go away to die alone?" +she exclaimed. + +"Not so, my child. Before you interrupted us he told me that he had +left home by stealth on purpose. But, Branwen," continued the old man +with some severity, "how could you run such a risk of being discovered?" + +"I ran no risk," she replied, with a laugh. + +"Besides, it was not fair to pretend to be deaf and thus obtain all his +secrets." + +"I don't care whether it was fair or not," replied the girl with a +wilful shake of her head. "And was it fair of you to back me up as you +did?" + +"Your rebuke is just, yet it savours of ingratitude. I should not have +done so, but I was completely taken aback. Do you know that your face +is dirty?" + +"I know it. I made it so on purpose. Now tell me--when are you going +away to tell my father and brothers about me?" + +"I shall probably start to-morrow. But many days must pass before I can +bring them here, for, as you know, their town is a long way off. But, +child, you do not seem to reflect that you have betrayed me." + +"How?" asked Branwen, wonderingly. + +"Did you not thrust out the plank and cross over before the very eyes of +Bladud?" + +Branwen pursed her lips into the form of an O and opened her eyes wide. + +"I never thought of that!" she said. "But after all it does not matter, +for the prince took no notice of the plank, and _he_ is not the man to +go and betray secrets!" + +The Hebrew laughed, patted the girl on the head and sent her off to +rest. Then he busied himself in making preparation for his too +long-delayed journey. + +Next morning, before daybreak, he set off, leaving Branwen in charge of +the hut, with strict orders to keep well out of sight. If any one +should come to it she was to retreat to the inner cavern and withdraw +the bridge. + +"They may do as seemeth to them good in the outer hut. There is nothing +there worth stealing, and they are welcome to make themselves at home." + +The Hebrew went on his mission; arrived in due time at his journey's +end; reported Branwen's dilemma; guided a party of stout warriors under +her father Gadarn, and led them to his hut in the dell in the dead of a +dark night, for it was no part of the programme to abduct the girl by +main force, unless peaceful or stealthy measures should prove +unsuccessful. When, however, he reached the dell and entered his +dwelling, he found that the bird had flown! Every nook and cranny of +the place was carefully searched; but, to the consternation of the +Hebrew, and the wrath of Gadarn and his men, not a vestige of Branwen +was to be found. + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +ADVENTURES IN THE FORESTS. + +Poor Branwen! it was an unfortunate day for her when, in her youthful +ignorance and recklessness, she took to the wild woods, resolved to +follow Bladud to his destination and secretly wait there and watch over +him like a guardian angel, as it were, until the terrible disease should +lay him on his deathbed, when she would reveal herself and nurse him to +the end! + +Let not the reader suppose there was any lack of maiden modesty in this +resolve. It must be borne in mind that Branwen was little more than a +child in experience; that she was of an age at which the world, with all +its affairs, is enveloped in a halo of romance; that her soul had been +deeply stirred by the story of the rescue of the leprous old woman, and +her pity powerfully aroused by the calm, though hopeless, tones of the +doomed man when he spoke of his blighted prospects. Rather than leave +him to die in absolute solitude she would sacrifice everything, and, in +spite of infection and disfigurement, and the horrible nature of a +disease which eats away the features before it kills, she would soothe +his dying hours. Besides this, it must be remembered that our +ancestors' notions of propriety were somewhat different from ours, and-- +well, it was about eight hundred years BuC! + +Whether love was a factor in her resolve we cannot say, but we are +firmly convinced that, if it were, she was ignorant of the fact. + +It is, however, one thing to resolve--quite another thing to carry +resolution into effect. Branwen had, in an incidental way, obtained +from her protector, Beniah, information as to the direction in which the +hunter of the Hot Swamp lived, and the distance to his dwelling; but +when she actually found herself in the forest, with nothing to guide her +save the position of the sun--and, on cloudy days not even that--she +began to realise somewhat of the difficulties that attended her +enterprise, and when, on the first night, she crouched among the forked +branches of an old oak, and heard the cries of wolves and other wild +creatures, and even saw them prowling about by the light of the moon as +it flickered through the foliage, she began to appreciate the dangers. + +She had not, indeed, been so foolish as to set out on her expedition +without a certain amount of forethought--what she deemed careful and +wise consideration. She knew that by noting the position of the sun +when at its highest point in the sky she could follow pretty closely the +direction which Beniah had pointed out to her. She was quite aware that +food was absolutely necessary to life, and had packed up a large bundle +of dried meat, and also provided herself with one of her host's bows and +a sheaf of arrows. Besides this, she knew, like every girl of the +period, how to snare rabbits, and was even expert in throwing stones, so +that, if it should come to the worst, she could manage to subsist on +little birds. As to sleeping at night, she had been accustomed, as a +little girl, to climb trees, which faculty had not yet departed from +her, and she knew well that among the branches of many kinds of trees +there were cosy resting-places where neither man nor beast would be +likely to discover her. She had also some idea of what it is to follow +a trail, for she had often heard the king's chief hunter refer to the +process. As it was certain that Bladud, being an enormously big man, +would leave a very obvious trail behind him, she would follow that--of +course keeping well in the rear, so that he might never dream of her +existence or intentions until the fatal time arrived when she should +have to appear like a guardian angel and nurse him till he died. + +Poor Branwen felt dreadfully depressed when she thought of this +termination, and was quite unlike her gay reckless self for a time; but +a vague feeling of unbelief in such a catastrophe, and a determination +to hope against hope kept her from giving way to absolute despair, and +nerved her to vigorous exertion. + +It was in this state of mind that she had set the Hebrew's house in +order; carried everything of value to the inner cave; removed the plank +bridge; closed the outer door, and had taken her departure. + +As already said, she concealed herself among the branches of an old oak +the first night, and, although somewhat alarmed by the cries of wild +animals, as well as by the appalling solitude and darkness around, she +managed to make a fair supper of the dried meat. Then,--she could not +tell when,--she fell into a profound slumber, which was not broken until +the sun had risen high, and the birds were whistling gaily among the +branches--some of them gazing at her in mute surprise, as if they had +discovered some new species of gigantic acorn. + +She arose with alacrity, her face flushed with abounding health, and her +eyes dancing with a gush of youthful hope. But memory stepped in, and +the thought of her sad mission caused a sudden collapse. The collapse, +however, did not last long. Her eyes chanced to fall on the bundle of +dried meat. Appetite immediately supervened. Falling-to, she made a +hearty breakfast, and then, looking cautiously round to see that no +danger was near, she slipped down from her perch, took up the bow and +quiver and bundle of food, threw her blanket, or striped piece of +Phoenician cloth, over her shoulder, and resumed her journey. + +It was soon after this that Branwen found out the misfortune of +ignorance and want of experience. Ere long she began to feel the +cravings of thirst, and discovered that she had forgotten to take with +her a bottle, or any other sort of receptacle for water. About noon her +thirst became so great that she half repented having undertaken the +mission. Then it became so intolerable that she felt inclined to sit +down and cry. But such an act was so foreign to her nature that she +felt ashamed; pursed her lips; contracted her brows; grasped her bow and +strode bravely on. + +She was rewarded. The tinkling of water broke upon her senses like +celestial music. Running forward she came to a little spring, at which +she fell on her knees, put her lips to the pool, and drank with +thankfulness in her heart. Arising refreshed, she glanced upward, and +observed a bird of the pheasant species gazing fixedly down. + +"How fortunate!" exclaimed the maiden, fitting an arrow to her bow. + +It was not fortunate for the pheasant, evidently, whatever Branwen may +have meant, for next moment the bird fell dead--transfixed with an +arrow. + +Being high noon by that time, the demands of nature made our huntress +think of a mid-day meal. And now it was that she became aware of +another omission--the result, partly, of inexperience. Having plucked +and cleaned the bird, she prepared to roast it, when a sudden +indescribable gaze overspread her pretty face. For a moment she stood +as if petrified. Then she suddenly laughed, but the laugh was not +gleeful, for it is trying to human nature to possess a good appetite and +a good dinner without the means of cooking! She had forgotten to take +with her materials for producing fire. She knew, indeed, that sticks +and friction and fungus were the things required, but she knew not what +sort of sticks, or where to find the right kind of fungus, or tinder. +Moreover, she had never tried her hand at such work before, and knew not +how to begin. + +Laying the bird on a bank, therefore, she dined off the dried meat--not, +however, so heartily as before, owing to certain vague thoughts about +supply and demand--the rudimentary ideas of what now forms part of the +science of Political Economy. The first fittings of a careworn +expression across her smooth brow, showed, at all events, that domestic +economy had begun to trouble her spirit. + +"For," she thought to herself, "the dried meat won't last long, and I +can't eat raw things--disgusting!--and I've a long, long way to go." + +Even at this early period of her mission, her character was beginning to +develop a little and to strengthen. + +For several days she continued her journey through the great solitudes +lying to the north-west of King Hudibras' town, keeping carefully out of +the way of open places, lest wandering hunters should find her, and +sleeping in the forked branches of trees at night. Of course the +necessity of thus keeping to the dense woods, and making her way through +thorny thickets, rendered her journey very fatiguing; but Branwen was +unusually strong and healthy, though the grace of her slender frame gave +her a rather fragile appearance, and she did not find herself exhausted +even at the end of a long day's march; while her dressed-deerskin skirt +and leggings bid defiance to thorns. So did the rude but serviceable +shoes which her friend Beniah had constructed for her out of raw hide. + +One thing that troubled the poor girl much was the fact that she had not +yet discovered the trail of Bladud. In reality, she had crossed it more +than once, but, not being possessed of the keen eye of the hunter, she +had not observed it, until she came to a muddy swamp, on the edge of +which there was an unmistakable track--a trail which a semi-blind man +could hardly have missed. Stopping for a few minutes to take particular +note of it, she afterwards went on with renewed hope and energy. + +But this state of things did not last, for the trail became to her +indistinguishable the moment the swamp was passed, and at last, during a +very dark wet day, she lost herself as well as the trail. At evening of +the same day she climbed into a tree. Opening out her bundle of dried +meat, she began to eat and bemoan her fate. Tears were in her eyes, and +there was a slight tendency to sob in her voice, as she muttered to +herself-- + +"I--I wouldn't mind being lost so much, if I only knew what to do or +where to go. And this meat won't hold out another week at the rate I've +been eating. But I could hardly help it--I have been _so_ hungry. +Indeed, I'm hungry _now_, but I must not eat so much. Let me see. I +shall divide it into two parts. That will last me twelve days or so, by +which time I should be there--if I'm still going in the right direction. +And now, divide the half into six--there--each of these will do for-- +Oh! but I forgot, that's only enough for breakfast. It will need two +portions for each day, as it will be impossible to do without supper. I +must just eat half of to-night's portion, and see how it feels." + +With this complicated end in view, she dried her eyes and began supper, +and when she had finished it she seemed to "see" that it didn't "feel" +enough, for, after much earnest consideration, she quietly began to eat +the second portion, and consumed it. + +She was putting away the remnants, and feeling altogether in a more +satisfactory state of mind, when her eyes fell upon an object which +caused her heart to bound with alarm, and drove all the colour from her +cheeks. + +At the foot of the tree, looking up at her in blank amazement--open-eyed +and mouthed--stood a man; a big, rough-looking man, in hairy garments +and with a hairy face, which was topped by a head of hair that rendered +a cap needless. He stood with his feet apart and an arrow across his +bow, like one who sees a lovely bird which he is about to bring down. + +"Oh! don't shoot!" she cried, becoming suddenly and alarmingly aware of +the action--"don't shoot! It's me! I--I'm a girl--not a beast!" + +To make quite sure that the man understood her, Branwen jumped to the +ground quickly and stood before him. + +Recovering himself, the man lowered his bow and said something in a +dialect so uncouth, that the poor girl did not understand him. Indeed, +she perceived, to her horror, that he was half-witted, and could +articulate with difficulty. + +"I don't know what you say, good man, but I am lost in this forest, and +belong to King Hudibras' town. I am on my way to visit the hunter of +the Hot Swamp, and I would think it so very, _very_ kind if you would +guide me to his hut." + +The idiot--for such he was--evidently understood the maiden, though she +did not understand him, for he threw back his head, and gave vent to a +prolonged gurgling laugh. + +Branwen felt that her only chance was to put a bold face on matters. +She, therefore, by a violent effort, subdued her emotion and continued. + +"You know King Hudibras?" + +The man nodded and grinned. + +"Then I am quite sure that if you behave well, and show me the way to +the Hot Swamp, he will reward you in a way that will make your heart +dance with joy. Come, guide me. We have a good deal of the day still +before us." + +Thus speaking, she put her hand quietly within that of the idiot, and in +a voice of authority said--"lead on!" + +Regarding the girl with a look of mute surprise, the man obeyed, but, +instead of leading her to the region named, he conducted her over a +neighbouring ridge, into what appeared to her to be a robber's den. +There was nothing for it now but to carry out the _role_ which she had +laid down. The desperate nature of the case seemed to strengthen her to +play her part, for, as she was led into the circle of light caused by a +camp-fire, round which a band of wild-looking men were standing, a +spirit of calm determination seemed to take possession of her soul. + +"What strange sort of animal is this you have caught, lad?" demanded one +of the band. + +Before an answer could be given, a tall, fierce-looking woman came out +of a booth, or temporary hut, close to the camp-fire, pushed her way +through the crowd of men, who fell back respectfully, and, going up to +Branwen, grasped her by the wrist. + +"Never ye mind what animal she is," cried the woman, shaking her fist at +the man who had spoken, "she is my property." Then, turning to her +captive as she led her into the hut, she said: + +"Don't be afraid, my dear. Black-hearted though some of them are, not +one will dare to touch you as long as you are under my protection." + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +BRANWEN IN IMMINENT DANGER. + +It is a wonderful, but at the same time, we think, a universal and +important fact, that love permeates the universe. Even a female snail, +if we could only put the question, would undoubtedly admit that it loves +its little ones. + +At least we have the strongest presumption from analogy that the idea is +correct, for do we not find lions and tigers, apes and gorillas, engaged +in lovingly licking--we don't mean whipping--and otherwise fondling +their offspring? Even in Hades we find the lost rich man praying for +the deliverance of his brethren from torment, and that, surely, was love +in the form of pity. At all events, whatever name we may give it, there +can be no doubt it was unselfish. And even selfishness is love +misapplied. + +Yes, let us be thankful that in one form or another love permeates the +universe, and there is no place, however unfavourable, and no person, +however unlikely, that can altogether escape from its benign influence. + +We have been led to these reflections by the contemplation of that +rugged, hard-featured, square-shouldered, angry old woman who so +opportunely took Branwen under her protection. + +Why she did so was a complete mystery to the poor girl, for the woman +seemed to have no amiable traits of character about her, and she spoke +so harshly to every one--even to her timid captive--that Branwen could +not help suspecting she was actuated by some sinister motive in +protecting her. + +And Branwen was right. She had indeed a sinister end in view--but love +was at the bottom even of that. The woman, whose name was Ortrud, had a +son who was to the full as ugly and unamiable as herself, and she loved +that son, although he treated her shamefully, abused her, and sometimes +even threatened to beat her. To do him justice, he never carried the +threat into execution. And, strange to say, this unamiable blackguard +also loved his mother--not very demonstratively, it is true, except in +the abusive manner above mentioned. + +This rugged creature had a strong objection to the wild, lawless life +her son was leading, for instead of sticking to the tribe to which he +belonged, and pillaging, fighting with, and generally maltreating every +other tribe that was not at peace with his, this mistaken young man had +associated himself with a band of like-minded desperadoes--who made him +their chief--and took to pillaging the members of every tribe that +misfortune cast in his way. Now, it occurred to Ortrud that the best +way to wean her son from his evil ways would be to get him married to +some gentle, pretty, affectionate girl, whose influence would be exerted +in favour of universal peace instead of war, and the moment she set eyes +on Branwen, she became convinced that her ambition was on the point of +attainment. Hence her unexpected and sudden display of interest in the +fair captive, whom she meant to guard till the return of her son from a +special marauding expedition, in which he was engaged at the time with a +few picked men. + +Whatever opinion the reader may have by this time formed of Branwen, we +wish it to be understood that she had "a way with her" of insinuating +herself into the good graces of all sorts and conditions of men-- +including women and children. She was particularly successful with +people of disagreeable and hardened character. It is not possible to +explain why, but, such being the case, it is not surprising that she +soon wormed herself into the confidence of the old woman, to such an +extent, that the latter was ere long tempted to make her more or less of +a confidant. + +One day, about a week after the arrival of our heroine in the camp, old +Ortrud asked her how she would like to live always in the green woods. +The look of uncertainty with which she put the question convinced the +captive that it was a leading one. + +"I should like it well," she replied, "if I had pleasant company to live +with." + +"Of course, of course, my dear, you would need that--and what company +could be more pleasant than that of a good stout man who could keep you +in meat and skins and firewood?" + +Any one with a quarter of Branwen's intelligence would have guessed at +once that the woman referred to her absent son, about whose good +qualities she had been descanting at various times for several days +past. The poor girl shuddered as the light broke in on her, and a +feeling of dismay at her helpless condition, and being entirely in the +power of these savages, almost overcame her, but her power of +self-restraint did not fail her. She laughed, blushed in spite of +herself, and said she was too young to look at the matter in _that_ +light! + +"Not a bit; not a bit!" rejoined Ortrud. "I was younger than you when +my husband ran away with me." + +"Ran away with you, Ortrud?" cried Branwen, laughing outright. + +"Ay; I was better-looking then than I am now, and not nigh so heavy. He +wouldn't find it so easy," said the woman, with a sarcastic snort, "to +run away with me now." + +"No, and he wouldn't be so much inclined to do so, I should think," +thought Branwen, but she had the sense not to say so. + +"That's a very, very nice hunting shirt you are making," remarked +Branwen, anxious to change the subject. + +The woman was pleased with the compliment. She was making a coat at the +time, of a dressed deer-skin, using a fish-bone needle, with a sinew for +a thread. + +"Yes, it is a pretty one," she replied. "I'm making it for my younger +son, who is away with his brother, though he's only a boy yet." + +"Do you expect him back soon?" asked the captive, with a recurrence of +the sinking heart. + +"In a few days, I hope. Yes, you are right, my dear; the coat is a +pretty one, and he is a pretty lad that shall wear it--not very handsome +in the face, to be sure; but what does that matter so long as he's stout +and strong and kind? I am sure his elder brother, Addedomar, will be +kind to you though he _is_ a bit rough to me sometimes." + +Poor Branwen felt inclined to die on the spot at this cool assumption +that she was to become a bandit's wife; but she succeeded in repressing +all appearance of feeling as she rose, and, stretching up her arms, gave +vent to a careless yawn. + +"I must go and have a ramble now," she said. "I'm tired of sitting so +long." + +"Don't be long, my dear," cried the old woman, as the captive left the +hut, "for the ribs must be nigh roasted by this time." + +Branwen walked quickly till she gained the thick woods; then she ran, +and, finally sitting down on a bank, burst into a passion of tears. But +it was not her nature to remain in a state of inactive woe. Having +partially relieved her feelings she dried her tears and began to think. +Her thinking was seldom or never barren of results. To escape somehow, +anyhow, everyhow, was so urgent that she felt it to be essential to the +very existence of the universe--her universe at least--that she should +lift herself out of the Impossible into the Stick-at-nothing. The thing +_must_ be done--by miracle if not otherwise. + +And she succeeded--not by miracle but by natural means--as the reader +shall find out all in good time. + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +THE PRINCE UNDERTAKES STRANGE WORK. + +When Prince Bladud entered upon what he really believed would be his +last journey, he naturally encountered very different experiences, being +neither so ignorant, so helpless, nor so improvident as his helpless +follower. + +After a good many days of unflagging perseverance, therefore, he reached +the neighbourhood of the Hot Swamp, in good spirits and in much better +health than when he set out. He was, indeed, almost restored to his +usual vigour of body, for the fever by which he had been greatly +weakened had passed away, and the constant walking and sleeping in fresh +air had proved extremely beneficial. We know not for certain whether +the leprosy by which he had been attacked was identical in all respects +with the fatal disease known in the East, or whether it was something +akin to it, or the same in a modified form. The only light which is +thrown by our meagre records on this point is that it began with fever +and then, after a period of what seemed convalescence, or inaction, it +continued to progress slowly but surely. Of course the manner in which +it had been caught was more than presumptive evidence that it was at +least of the nature of the fatal plague of the East. + +Although his immunity from present suffering tended naturally to raise +the spirits of the prince, it did not imbue him with much, if any, hope, +for he knew well he might linger for months--even for years--before the +disease should sap all his strength and finally dry up the springs of +life. + +This assurance was so strong upon him that, as we have said, he once-- +indeed more than once--thought of taking his own life. But the +temptation passed quickly. He was too conscientious and too brave to do +that; and had none of that moral cowardice which seeks escape from the +inevitable in hoped-for oblivion. Whether his life was the gift of many +gods or of one God, he held that it was a sacred trust which he was +bound in honour to guard. Therefore he fought manfully against +depression of spirits, as one of the destroyers of life, and even +encouraged hope, frequently looking at the fatal white spot on his +shoulder, and trying to persuade himself that it was not spreading. + +In this state of mind Bladud arrived one day at the abode of the hunter +of the Hot Swamp. It was not, indeed, close to the springs which caused +the swamp, but stood in a narrow sequestered gully quite five miles +distant from it. The spot had been chosen as one which was not likely +to be discovered by wanderers, and could be easily defended if it should +be found. Moreover, its owner, as Bladud had been warned, was a fierce, +morose man, who loved solitude and resented interference of any kind, +and this was so well known in the thinly-peopled neighbourhood that +every one kept carefully out of his way. + +Sometimes this eccentric hunter appeared at the nearest village--twenty +miles distant from his home--with some pigs to barter for the few +commodities which he wanted from time to time; but he and his horse, +cow, and dogs ate up all the remaining produce of his small farm--if +such it might be called. + +It was a beautiful evening when the prince walked up to the door of the +little hut, in front of which its owner was standing, eyeing him with a +forbidding scowl as he approached. + +He was in truth a strange and formidable man, such as one would rather +not meet with in a lonely place. There appear to have been giants in +those days; for this hunter of the Hot Swamp was nearly, if not quite, +as tall as Bladud himself, and to all appearance fully as strong of +limb. A mass of black hair covered his head and chin; a skin +hunting-shirt his body, and a hairy boar-skin was thrown across his +broad shoulders. Altogether, he seemed to his visitor the very +personification of ferocity. A huge bow, ready strung, leaned against +his hut. As Bladud advanced with his own bow unstrung, the man +apparently scorned to take it up, but he grasped and leaned upon a staff +proportioned to his size. + +Anxious to propitiate this mysterious being, the prince approached with +steady, unaffected ease of manner, and a look of goodwill which might +have conciliated almost any one; but it had no effect on the hunter. + +"What want ye here?" he demanded, when his visitor was near enough. + +"To enter your service." + +"_My_ service!" exclaimed the man with a look of surprise that for a +moment banished the scowl. "I want no servant. I can serve myself well +enough. And, truly, it seems to me that a man like you should be +ashamed to talk of service. You are more fitted for a master than a +servant. I trow you must have some bad motive for seeking service with +a man like me. Have you murdered any one, that you flee from the face +of your fellows and seek to hide you here?" + +"No, I am not a murderer." + +"What then? Are you desirous of becoming one, and making me your +victim?" asked the hunter, with a look of contempt; "for you will find +that no easy job, stout though you be. I have a good mind to crack your +crown for coming here to disturb my solitude!" + +"Two can play at that game," replied Bladud, with a seraphic smile. +"But I am truly a man of peace. I merely want to look after your cattle +for occupation; I will gladly live in the woods, away from your +dwelling, if you will let me serve you--my sole desire being, like your +own, to live--and, if need be, to die--alone." + +For a few moments there was a softened expression on the hunter's face +as he asked, in a tone that had something almost of sympathy in it-- + +"Is there a woman at the bottom of this?" + +"No. Woman has nothing to do with it--at least, not exactly--not +directly," returned Bladud. + +"Hah!" exclaimed the man, paying no regard to the modification implied +in the answer; and advancing a step, with eager look, "did she tempt you +on and then deceive you; and scorn you, and forsake you for another +man?" + +"You mistake me. The poor woman I was thinking of was an old one, +labouring under a deadly disease." + +On hearing this the hunter's softened look vanished, and his former +scowl returned. + +"Go!" he said, sternly; "I can take care of the cattle myself, without +help. But stay, a man of your peaceful nature and humility may, +perchance, not be too proud to take charge of pigs." + +Bladud flushed--not so much because of the proposal as the tone of +contempt in which it was uttered; but, remembering his condition and his +object, he mastered his feelings. + +"I am willing to take charge of your pigs," he said, in a quiet tone; +"where do they feed?" + +"A goodish bit from here. Not far from the Hot Swamp, that lies on the +other side of the hill." + +The man pointed to a high ridge, just visible beyond the gully in which +his hut lay concealed, which was clothed from base to summit with dense +forest. + +"There are plenty of pigs there," he continued in a milder tone. "How +many I don't know, and don't care. I brought the old ones here, and +they have multiplied. If you choose to keep them together, you are +welcome. I want only a few of them now and then. When I do, I hunt +them together and drive them with my dogs. You may kill and eat of them +as you please; but don't come nigh my hut, mind you, else will I put an +arrow in your heart." + +"Good, I will take care," returned the prince gravely. "And if you come +nigh _my_ dwelling, is it understood that I am to put an arrow in _your_ +heart? I could easily do it, for I am a fair marksman." + +Something approaching almost to a smile crossed the hunter's swart +visage at this reply. It did not last, however. + +"Go!" he said. "Keep your jesting for the pigs, if they have a mind to +listen." + +"I will try them. Mayhap they are more sociable than their owner. And +now, master, might I ask for the loan of one of your dogs? It might be +useful in herding." + +"None of them would follow you. Yet--yes, the pup might do so. It has +not yet come to care for me much." + +So saying, the man went to the rear of his hut, and, from the kennel +there, fetched a young but full-grown dog, somewhat resembling a +retriever, which gambolled joyously at the prospect of being let out for +a run. + +"There, take him. He comes of a good breed. Keep the leash on his neck +till you have given him his first feed; he'll follow you after that." + +"What is his name?" asked the prince. + +"No name. Like his master in that!" + +Taking the leash in his hand, Bladud said farewell, and went away into +the woods, while the hunter of the Swamp, turning round, stooped as he +entered his hut, and shut the door behind him. + +It may seem strange that the prince should thus voluntarily seek for +menial occupation, but, in truth, he shrank from the idea of living +absolutely to himself alone, and felt a strong desire to have some sort +of responsibility in connection with a human being, however short his +life on earth might be, or however uncouth the individual with whom he +might have to do--for man is intensely social, as only those who have +dwelt in absolute solitude can thoroughly understand. + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +PRINCE BLADUD TAKES POSSESSION OF HIS ESTATE AND BEGINS BUSINESS. + +Pondering over the circumstances of the strange being from whom he had +just parted, Bladud proceeded to the summit of the hill, or ridge of +high land, on the other side of which lay the region in which he had +made up his mind to end his days. + +It took him full two hours to make his way through the dense underwood +to the top; but when this point was reached, the magnificent panorama of +land and water which met his view was a feast to his eyes, which for a +time caused him to forget his forlorn condition. + +In all directions, wherever he gazed, ridges and knolls, covered with +dense woods and richest vegetation, were seen extending from his +elevated outlook to the distant horizon. Cliffs, precipices, dells, and +bright green open spaces varied the landscape; and in the bottom of the +great valley which lay immediately beneath his feet there meandered a +broad river, in whose waters were reflected here and there the +overhanging trees, or green patches of its flower-bespangled banks, or +the rich browns and yellows of spots where these banks had been broken +away by floods; while, elsewhere, were seen glittering patches of the +blue sky. + +Far away in the extreme distance a soft cloud of thin transparent vapour +hung steadily over a partially open space, which he rightly conjectured +to be the Hot Swamp, of which he had often heard wondrous stories in his +boyhood, but which he had not been permitted to visit, owing to the +tribes living near the springs having been at war with his father. +During his absence in the East, King Hudibras had attacked and almost +exterminated the tribes in question, so that the Hot Swamp region, just +at the time when the prince arrived, was a land of desolation. + +Though desolate, however, it was, as we have tried to show, exceeding +lovely, so that our wanderer was ravished with the prospect, and seated +himself on a bank near the top of the ridge to contemplate its beauties +in detail. + +His canine companion sat down beside him, and looked up inquiringly in +his face. + +During the first part of the journey the pup had strained a good deal at +the leash, and had displayed a strong desire to return to its former +master, as well as a powerful objection to follow its new one. It had +also, with that perversity of spirit not uncommon in youth, exhibited a +proneness to advance on the other side of bushes and trees from its +companion, thus necessitating frequent halts and numerous +disentanglements. On all of these occasions Bladud had remonstrated in +tones so soft, and had rectified the error so gently, that the pup was +evidently impressed. Possibly it was an observant pup, and appreciated +the advantages of human kindness. Perhaps it was a sagacious pup, and +already recognised the difference between the old master and the new. + +Be this as it may, Bladud had not been long seated there in a state of +dreamy abstraction, when he became conscious of the inquiring look. +Returning it with interest, but without speaking, he gazed steadily into +the soft brown eyes that were turned up to his. At last the prince +opened his lips, and the dog, turning his head slightly to one side with +a look of expectancy, cocked his ears. + +"Browneyes," he said, "you'll grow to be a fine dog if you live." + +There was the slightest possible tremor in the pup's tail. Of course +there might have been more than a tremor if the caudal appendage had +been at liberty instead of being sat upon. It was enough, however, to +indicate a tendency to goodwill. + +"Come here, Browneyes," said Bladud, holding out his hand. + +But the pup was hardly prepared for such a complete and sudden +concession as the invitation implied. He repeated the tremor, however, +and turned his head to the other side, by way of a change, but sat +still. + +A happy thought occurred to the prince--justifying the remark of Solomon +that there is nothing new under the sun. He opened his wallet, took out +a small piece of meat, and held it out. + +"Here, Brownie, have a bit." Another justification of Solomon, for the +natural abbreviation of names is not new! + +The pup advanced with confidence, ate the morsel, and looked inquiringly +for more, at the same time wagging its tail with unqualified +satisfaction. + +"Yes, Brownie, you shall have more." + +The second morsel was bestowed; the tail wagged effusively; the name of +Brownie became irrevocably associated with food, and a loving look and +tone with favours to come. Thus a title and a friendship were +established which endured through life and was terminated only by death. +So trivial sometimes are the incidents on which the great events of +life are hinged! + +We pause here to deprecate the idea that this fine animal's affection +was gained through its stomach. Many a time had its old master thrown +it savoury junks and bones of food; but a scowl and sometimes a growl, +had often been thrown into the mess, thereby robbing the gift of all +grace, and checking the outflow of affection. Bladud's character +similarly, was as clearly perceived by the manner of his gifts. Indeed, +it would have been a poor compliment to the intelligence of Brownie--or +of any dog, young or old--to suppose it capable of misunderstanding the +gentle tone, the kindly glance, and the patting hand of Bladud. At all +events, the result was that Brownie, with an expressive wag and bark, +vowed fidelity from that date to the prince, and, in the same act, +renounced allegiance to the hunter of the Hot Swamp. + +From that date, too, the master and the dog entered upon, and kept up at +frequent though brief intervals, a species of conversation or mental +intercourse which, if not profound, was equal to much that passes for +intercourse among men, and was, at all events, a source of eminent +satisfaction to both. + +Removing the leash, Bladud descended the hill, with Brownie gambolling +delightedly round him. + +That night they slept together under the spreading branches of a +magnificent oak. + +There was no need to keep watch against wild beasts, for Brownie slept, +as it were, with one eye open, and the slightest symptom of curiosity +among the wild fraternity was met by a growl so significant that the +would-be intruder sheered off. + +The sun was high when the prince awoke and arose from his bed of leaves. +The pup, although awake long before, had dutifully lain still, abiding +his master's time. It now arose and shook itself, yawned, and looked up +with an expression of "what next?" + +Having lighted a fire, Bladud set up the carcase of a wild duck to +roast. He had shot it the day before on his way to the valley of the +Swamp. As this was a proceeding in which the pup had a prospective +interest, he sat by attentively. + +"Ah! Brownie," said his master, sitting down to wait for the cooking of +the bird, "you little know what a sad life awaits you. No companionship +but that of a doomed man, and I fear you will be a poor nurse when the +end comes, though assuredly you will not be an unsympathetic one. But +it may be long before the end. That's the worst of it. Come, have a +bit." + +He threw him a leg as he spoke, and the two breakfasted peacefully +together on the banks of the shining river, slaking their thirst, after +it was finished, at the same pure stream. + +While doing so the prince observed with satisfaction that large trout +were rising freely, and that several flocks of wild ducks and other +aquatic birds passed both up and down the river. + +"Now, Brownie," he said, when the meal was concluded, "you and I must +search for a convenient spot on which to build our hut." + +Before starting off, however, he uncovered his shoulder and looked +anxiously at the white spot. It was as obvious as ever, but did not +seem to him increased since he left home. A very slight matter will +sometimes give hope to a despairing man. Under the influence of this +negative comfort, Bladud took up his weapons and sallied forth, closely +followed by the pup. + +In the haste of departure and the depressed state of his mind he had, as +has been said, forgotten his sword, or deliberately left it behind him. +The only weapon he now possessed, besides the bow and arrows given to +him by the Hebrew, was a small bronze hatchet, which was, however, of +little use for anything except cutting down small trees and branches for +firewood. He carried a little knife, also, in his girdle, but it was +much too small to serve the purpose of an offensive weapon, though it +was well suited to skin wild animals and cut up his food. As for his +staff, or club--it might be of use in a contest with men, but would be +of little service against bears or wolves. Casting it aside, therefore, +he cut for himself a ponderous oaken staff about five feet long, at one +end of which there was a heavy knotted mass that gave it great weight. +The other end he sharpened to a fine point. This formidable weapon he +purposed to wield with both hands when using it as a club, while, if +need should arise, he might also use it as a spear. + +"I was foolish, Brownie," he remarked, while rounding off the head of +this club, "to leave my good sword behind me, for though I have no +desire to kill men, there may arise a need-be to kill bears. However, +it cannot be helped, and, verily, this little thing will be a pretty +fair substitute." + +He twirled the little thing round his head with one hand, in a way that +would have rejoiced the heart of a modern Irishman, had he been there to +see, and induced the pup to jump aside in surprise with his tail between +his legs. + +A few minutes later, and he was striding over the beautiful land in all +directions, examining and taking possession, as it were, of his fair +domain. + +In passing over a knoll which was crowned by several magnificent oaks, +they came suddenly on a family of black pigs, which were luxuriating on +the acorns that covered the ground. + +"My future care!" muttered the prince, with a grim smile, for he hardly +believed in the truth of all he was going through, and almost expected +to awake and find it was a dream. + +The pigs, headed by a huge old boar, caught sight of the intruders at +the same time, and stood for a moment or two grunting in stolid +astonishment. + +With all the gaiety of inexperience, the pup went at them single-handed, +causing the whole herd to turn and fly with ear-splitting screams--the +old boar bringing up the rear, and looking round, out of the corner of +his little eyes, with wicked intent. + +Bladud, knowing the danger, sprang after them, shouting to the pup to +come back. But Brownie's war-spirit had been aroused, and his training +in obedience had only just begun. In a moment he was alongside the +boar, which turned its head and gave him a savage rip with a gleaming +tusk. Fortunately it just barely reached the pup's flank, which it cut +slightly, but quite enough to cause him to howl with anger and pain. + +Before the boar could repeat the operation, Bladud sent his club +whizzing in advance of him. It was well aimed. The heavy head alighted +just above the root of the boar's curly tail. Instantly, as if +anticipating the inventions of the future, fifty steam whistles seemed +to burst into full cry. The other pigs, in sympathetic alarm, joined in +chorus, and thus, yelling inconceivably, they plunged into a thicket and +disappeared. + +Bladud almost fell to the ground with laughing, while Brownie, in no +laughing mood, came humbly forward to claim and receive consolation. +But he received more than consolation, for, while the prince was engaged +in binding up the wound, he poured upon him such a flood of solemn +remonstrance, in a tone of such injured feeling, that the pup was +evidently cut to the heart--his self-condemned, appealing looks proving +beyond a doubt that the meaning of what was said was plain to him, +though the language might be obscure. + +On continuing the march, Brownie limped behind his master--a sadder and +a wiser dog. They had not gone far when they came on another family of +pigs, which fled as before. A little further on, another herd was +discovered, wallowing in a marshy spot. It seemed to Bladud that there +was no good feeding in that place, and that the creatures were dirtying +themselves with no obvious end in view, so, with the pup's rather +unwilling assistance, he drove them to more favourable ground, where the +acorns were abundant. + +At this point he reached a secluded part of the valley, or, rather, an +off-shoot from it, where a low precipice rose on one side, and thick +flowering shrubs protected the other. The spot was considerably +elevated above the level of the low ground, and from an opening in the +shrubbery at the further extremity could be seen the larger valley with +all its wealth of forest and meadow, its knolls, and slopes, and wooded +uplands, with the river winding like a silver thread throughout its +whole extent. + +Here the prince resolved to fix his abode, and, not a little pleased +with the successful way in which he had commenced his amateur +pig-herding, he set vigorously and patiently to work with the little +bronze hatchet, to fell such trees as would be required in the +construction of his future home. + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +A STRANGE ABODE AND A WILD VISITOR. + +Bladud's idea of a palace worthy of a prince was not extravagant. He +erected it in three days without assistance or tools, except the bronze +axe and knife--Brownie acting the part of superintendent of the works. +Until it was finished, he slept with the forest trees for a shelter and +the sky for a canopy. + +The edifice was nothing better than a small hut, or booth, constructed +of long branches bent in the shape of semi-hoops, the ends of which were +thrust into the ground. The whole was thatched with dried grass and +bound down with ropes made of the same material. It was further secured +against the possible influence of high winds, by heavy branches being +laid across it and weighted with stones. Dried grass also formed the +carpeting on the floor. + +Of course it was not so high that its architect could stand up in it, +but he could sit in it erect, and could lie down at full length without +showing his heels outside. There was no door, but one end was left +unfinished as a substitute. Neither was there a fireplace, the space in +front sufficing for a kitchen. + +While engaged in its erection, Bladud was too busy to indulge in gloomy +thoughts, but as soon as it was finished and he had lain down to rest +under its shade, the terrible, almost incredible, nature of his position +rushed upon him in full force. The opening of the hut had been so +arranged as to present a view of the wide-spreading valley, and he gazed +upon scenes of surpassing loveliness, in which all the sights that met +the eye breathed of beauty and repose, while the sounds that broke upon +the ear were suggestive of bird and beast revelling in the enjoyment of +the gifts and sunshine of a bountiful Creator. But such sights and +sounds only enhanced the misery of the poor man, and he started up, +after a few minutes' contemplation, and rushed outside in the vain hope +of escaping from his misery by energetic action. + +"This will drive me mad," he thought, as he paused and stood for a few +minutes irresolute. "Better far to return to the East where tyrants +reign and people dare not call body and soul their own, and die fighting +in the front rank for liberty--but--but--who would let me join them, +knowing my disease? `Unclean!' I may not even come within touch of my +kind--" + +His head sank on his breast and he tried to banish thought altogether. +At the same moment his eyes met the meek, patient look of Brownie. + +"Ah, pup," he exclaimed, stooping to fondle the soft brown head as he +muttered to himself, "you teach me a lesson and put me to shame, despite +your want of speech. You are awaiting my commands, ready to give +unquestioning obedience--whether to go to the right, or left, or to lie +down. And here am I, not only a prince, but supposed to be a reasoning +man, rebelling against the decree of my Maker--my Spirit-Father! Surely +there must be One who called my spirit into being--else had I never +been, for I could not create myself, and it must be His will that I am +smitten--and for a _good_ end, else He were not good!" + +For a few minutes longer he continued to meditate in silence. Then he +turned quickly and picked up the axe which lay at the entrance of the +hut. + +"Come, pup," he cried, cheerfully, "you and I must build another house. +You see, we shall have plenty of game and venison soon to guard from the +wolves, and it would be disagreeable to keep it in the palace along with +ourselves--wouldn't it? So, come along, Brownie." + +Thus appealed to, the pup gave its assent by some violent tail +activities, and, in a few minutes, had resumed its former post as +superintendent of the works, while its master toiled like a second +Samson in the hope of driving mental distress away through the pores of +his skin. + +He was not indeed altogether unsuccessful, for so intimate is the +mysterious connection between spirit and matter that he felt comparative +relief--even to the extent of cheerfulness--when the muscles were in +violent action and the perspiration was streaming down his brow; but +when the second hut, or larder, was completed his depression returned in +greater power than before. + +Then he took to hunting with tremendous energy, a plan which was highly +approved of by his canine companion. He also devoted himself to his +specific duties as swine-herd; collected the animals from all quarters +into several large herds, counted them as well as he could, and drove +them to suitable feeding-grounds. On retiring each day from this work, +into which he threw all his power, he felt so fatigued as to be quite +ready for supper and bed. + +Gradually he became accustomed to the life, and at length, after a +considerable time of it, a feeling of resignation to his fate began to +tell upon him. + +The effect of prolonged solitude also began even to numb the powers of +his mind. He was fully aware of this, and tried to shake it off, for he +shuddered more at the thought of mental than of physical decay. Among +other things, he took to talking more frequently to Brownie, but +although the pup was, in many respects, a most valuable and sympathetic +companion, he could not prevent the conversation from being rather +one-sided. + +By degrees the summer merged into autumn; the foliage assumed the tints +of green and gold. Then it became russet, and finally the cold bleak +winds of a northern winter shrieked through the valley and swept the +leaves away. + +During all this time no human being had gone near that region, or paid +the forlorn prince a visit, except once when the hunter of the Hot Swamp +made his appearance. + +The rebellious tribes retained too vivid a recollection of the slaughter +that had taken place during and after the fight with King Hudibras, to +risk a second encounter with that monarch, so that the place was at that +time absolutely deserted by human beings--though it was sufficiently +peopled by the lower animals. On the occasion when the hunter +unexpectedly appeared, he demanded of Bladud an account of his +stewardship. The report was so satisfactory that the hunter became, for +him, quite amiable; commended his swine-herd and drove off a number of +the pigs to market. On his return, laden with the few household goods +for which he had bartered them, he paid the prince another visit, and +even condescended to accept an invitation to enter his hut and partake +of a roast of venison which was at the time being prepared for the +mid-day meal. He was still, however, very brusque and taciturn. + +"No one has been near me during the whole summer or autumn but +yourself," observed Bladud with an involuntary sigh. + +"You must be pleased at that," returned the hunter, sharply; "you said +you came here for solitude." + +"Truly I did; but I had not thought it would be so hard to bear." + +"Why do you seek it, then, if you don't like it?" asked the hunter in +the same brusque, impatient manner which characterised all his words and +actions. + +"I am forced to seek it by a Power which may not be resisted with +impunity." + +"There is no such power!" exclaimed the hunter with a wild, demoniac +laugh. "I can resist any power--all powers. There is nothing that I +cannot resist and overcome." + +The gigantic man, with his dishevelled locks and shaggy beard, looked so +fierce and powerful, as he sat on the opposite side of the fire glaring +at his host, that Bladud became impressed with a hope that the maniac-- +for such he evidently was--would not attempt to prove his resistless +power there and then. In order to avert such a catastrophe, he assumed +an air of the most perfect ease and indifference to the boast, and asked +him with a bland smile if he would have another slice of venison. + +The hunter seemed to be disconcerted by the question, but, being a +hungry man and a ravenous eater, he accepted the offer and began to eat +the slice in moody silence. + +"Your good pup has been a real blessing to me," resumed the prince a few +minutes later, during which time he had devoted himself to his own +portion of food, "not only in the way of helping me to hunt and drive +the pigs, but as a companion who can do all but speak." + +"He could speak if you would let him," returned the hunter. "I speak to +my dogs continually, and they always answer--not with their tongues, for +that is not dog-language, but with their eyes--and I know every word +they speak. You would wonder how clever they are, and what droll things +they say sometimes." + +He burst into a wild hilarious laugh at this point, as if the thought of +the canine pleasantries were too much for him; then suddenly became +grave, and scowled furtively at his host, as if he felt that he had +committed himself. + +"You are right," replied Bladud, affecting not to observe the scowl. +"My pup often speaks to me with his eyes, but I am not so good at +understanding the language as you appear to be. No doubt I shall +acquire it in time." + +"Then you don't like being alone?" said the hunter, after a pause, +during which Bladud saw that he was eyeing him keenly, though he +pretended not to observe this. + +"No, I don't like it at all, but it can't be helped." + +"Well, it might have been helped, for I could have sent them to you." + +"Sent whom?" + +"A man and a boy. They were not together, but came to my hut at +different times inquiring for you, but, knowing your desire for +solitude, I turned them away on the wrong scent." + +"I'm glad you did," returned the prince, "for I want to be troubled by +neither man nor boy. Yet I wonder who they could be. Did they say why +they wanted to find me?" + +"No, they did not say, and I would not ask; what cared I about their +reasons?" + +"Yet you care enough for me, it appears, to say you would have sent them +to me if you knew I had been lonely. What was the appearance of the +man?" + +"He was old, but very strong, though not so big as me--or you. His hair +was long and white; so was his beard. He wore a long dark robe, and +carried a very big staff." + +Bladud had no difficulty in recognising the description of his friend +the Hebrew. + +"And the boy; what was he like?" + +"Like all boys, active and impudent." + +"I am afraid," returned the prince with a slight smile, "that your +acquaintance with boys cannot have been extensive--they are not all +active and impudent." + +"Most of those that have crossed my path are so. At all events, this +one was, for when I pointed out the direction you had gone--which was +just the opposite way from here--he said, `I don't believe you!' and +when I leaped on him to give him his deserts, he dodged me, and fled +into the woods like a squirrel. It was as well, for I should have +killed him." + +"I am not sorry he escaped you, then," said Bladud, with a laugh, +"though I scarcely think you would have killed the poor lad even if you +had caught him." + +"Oh yes, I would. And I'll kill _you_ if you venture to doubt my word." + +As he said this the hunter sprang to his feet, and, drawing his knife, +seemed about to leap upon his host, who, however, sat perfectly still. + +"I should be sorry that you should die," said Bladud in a calm voice, +while he kept his eyes steadily fixed on those of the maniac. "_You_ +have heard, have you not, of that terrible disease of the East, called +leprosy?" + +"Yes--the ship-captains have often spoken of it," said the madman, whose +mind, like that of a child, could be easily turned into new channels. + +"Look! I have got that disease. The Power which you profess to despise +has sent it to me. If you so much as touch me, your doom is fixed." + +He uncovered his shoulder as he spoke and displayed the white spot. + +Bladud felt quite uncertain how this would be received by the madman, +but he was scarcely prepared for what followed. No sooner did the +hunter see the spot and realise what it meant, than without a word he +turned, caught up his bundle, uttered a yell of terror, and fled from +the spot, closely followed by his dogs, which howled as if in sympathy. + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +A STRANGE ENCOUNTER AND A FRIEND IN NEED. + +About a week after the events narrated in the last chapter, an incident +occurred which, trifling in itself, was nevertheless the cause of +momentous issues in the life of our hero. + +He was returning one evening from a long ramble with his dog, when the +screams of a pig in evident distress attracted his attention. Hastening +to the place he found that a small member of his charge had fallen over +a cliff into a crevice in the rock, where it stuck fast and was unable +to extricate itself. The violent nature of the porcine family is well +known. Although very little hurt, this little pig felt its position so +unbearable that it immediately filled the woods with agonising shrieks +until Bladud dragged it out of the cleft, and carried it in his arms to +the foot of the precipice, where he set it free. Then the whirlwind of +its outcry came to a sudden stop, thereby proving beyond a doubt that +passion, not pain, was the cause of its demonstrations. + +From that date many of the pigs became affected by a cutaneous disease, +which gradually spread among all the herds. It was some time before +Bladud observed this; but when he did notice it, he jumped at once to +the conclusion that he must have communicated leprosy to his unfortunate +herds while rescuing the little pig. Whether or not he was right in +this conjecture, we cannot say; but the probability of his mere touch +being so contaminating was sufficient to increase greatly the depression +of spirits which had been stealing over him--a condition which was not a +little aggravated by the fact that the white spot on his arm was slowly +but surely spreading. Still the disease had not, so far, affected his +general health or strength in any serious degree. + +About that time there set in a long period of fine sunny weather, during +which Bladud busied himself in hunting and drying meat, as well as fish, +which he stored in his larder for future use. He also cut a large +quantity of firewood, and built another booth in which to protect it +from the weather, and otherwise made preparation for the winter when it +should arrive. + +One day he had wandered a considerable way into the forest, and was +about to turn to retrace his steps homeward, when he was surprised to +hear some creature crashing through the woods towards him. It could not +have been startled by himself, else it would have run away from him. +Stepping behind a tree, he strung his bow, called Brownie close to his +heel, and waited. A few seconds later a deer dashed close past him, +but, as his belt was already hung round with game, and home was still +far distant, he did not shoot. Besides, he was curious to know what had +startled the deer. A few minutes revealed that, for suddenly the sound +of footsteps was heard; then the bushes opposite were parted, and a boy, +or youth just emerging from boyhood, ran past him at full speed, with an +arrow sticking through his left sleeve. He was unarmed, and gasped like +one who runs for his life. Catching sight of the prince as he passed +the tree that had concealed him, the boy doubled like a hare, ran up to +Bladud, and, grasping one of his hands, cried--"O! save me!--save me!-- +from robbers!" in the most agonising tones. + +"That will I, poor lad, if I can." + +He had barely time to make this reply when a man burst from the +shrubbery on the other side of the tree, and almost plunged into his +arms. So close was he, and so unexpected the meeting, that the prince +had not time or space to use his bow, but saluted the man's forehead +with such an Olympic crack from his fist, that he fell prone upon the +ground and remained there. Bladud had dropped his bow in the act, but +his club leant handily against the tree. Catching it up, he wheeled +round just in time to face three tall and strong men, with bows in their +hands. Seeing their leader on the ground, they simultaneously +discharged three arrows, which were well aimed, and struck the prince +full on the chest; but they did not penetrate far, for, in anticipation +of some such possible encounter with foes, he had covered his chest with +a breastplate of thick double-ply hide, which effectually checked them. + +Before they could draw other arrows Bladud rushed at them with a +terrific shout, hurling his mighty club in advance. The weapon caught +the nearest robber full in the chest and laid him flat on the grass. +The other two, dropping their bows, turned and fled. + +"Guard them, Brownie!" cried Bladud, as he followed. + +The dog obediently took up a position between the two fallen men, and +eyed them in a way and with an ominous growl, that meant mischief if +they dared to stir. + +Bladud easily overtook the other two, grasped them by their necks, and, +using their heads as battering-rams, rapped them together. They sank +half-stunned upon their knees, and begged for mercy. + +"You shall have it," said Bladud, "on the condition that you go and tell +your comrades that if they ever come within twenty miles of the Swamp, +they shall find a man in the woods who will turn them inside out, and +roast them all alive! Away!" + +They went precipitately, as may be readily believed, and, as the prince +had intended, spread a report that gave to him thenceforth the rank of a +sorcerer, and secured him from future annoyance. + +Returning to the tree, Bladud found the fallen robbers beginning to +recover consciousness--the one being held in submission by the fugitive +youth, who stood, bow in hand, pointing an arrow at his throat; the +other by Brownie, who merely curled his nose, displayed his magnificent +teeth, and uttered a low growl of remonstrance. + +"Get up!" he said to the one he had knocked down with his fist. + +But as the order was not obeyed with sufficient promptitude, he lifted +the man up by the collar, like a kitten, and sent him staggering against +the tree with a violence that astounded him. Calling off the dog, he +gave a similar order to the second robber, who displayed much greater +agility in his movements. + +Repeating the little threat with which he had dismissed their comrades, +Bladud ordered them to be off. The second robber thankfully turned and +took to his heels; but the first stooped to pick up his bow, whereupon +Bladud wrenched it from his grasp, broke it over his head, and +belaboured him with the wreck for a couple of hundred yards through the +woods, while the robber ran as if he thought the evil spirit was at his +heels. + +Returning somewhat blown from this unusual exercise, he found the youth +in a state of great amusement and satisfaction. + +"Hah! you may laugh, my lad; but I can assure you it would have been no +laughing matter if these scoundrels had caught you." + +"You speak but the sober truth," returned the boy, still smiling; "for +well assured am I that it would have cost me my life if they had caught +me. But, believe me, I am not only pleased to see such villains get a +little of what they deserve, but am exceedingly grateful to you for so +kindly and effectually coming to my aid." + +"As to that, I would aid any one in distress--especially if pursued by +robbers. But, come, sit down and tell me how you fell into their power. +This bout has winded me a little. I will sit down on this bank; do you +sit on the bank opposite to me." + +"The explanation is simple and short," replied the boy; "I wanted to +have my own way, like most other boys, so I left home without leave, or +saying farewell." + +"That was bad," said the prince, shaking his head. He was on the point +of advancing some profitable reflections on this head, but the memory of +his own boyhood checked him. + +"I know it was bad, and assuredly I have been well punished," returned +the boy, "for these robbers caught me and have kept me with them for a +long time, so long that I have quite lost count of the days now." + +"Does your father live far from here?" + +"Yes, very, very far, and I know not where to go or what to do," +answered the boy, with a pitiful look. + +"Never mind, you are safe at present, and no doubt I shall find means of +having you sent safe home--though I see not the way just yet." + +"Is that blood on your coat?" asked the lad anxiously, as he pointed to +the prince's breast. + +"It is. The arrow-heads must have gone through the breastplate and +scratched the skin. I will look to it." + +"Let me help you," said the boy, rising and approaching. + +"Back! you know not what you do," said the prince sternly. "You must +not touch me. You have done so once to-day. It may cost you your life. +Ask not why, but obey my orders." + +Not less surprised at the nature of these remarks than at the severe +tone in which they were uttered, the boy re-seated himself in silence, +while Bladud removed the breastplate and examined his wounds. + +They were deeper than he had imagined, the three arrow-heads being half +imbedded in his flesh. + +"Nothing serious," he said, drawing out the heads and stanching the flow +of blood with a little moss. "Come, now, I will show you my home, and +give you something to eat before you tell me more of your history. You +shall have a couch in one of my outhouses. Have a care as you walk with +me that you do not come against me, or touch me even with a finger. My +reasons you may not know, but--remember what I say." + +Bladud spoke the last words with the severity that he had assumed +before; then, dismissing the subject, he commented on the beauty of the +landscape, the wickedness of robbers, the liveliness of animated nature +and things in general with the cheerful air that had been habitual to +him before he was compelled to flee the face of man. The pleasure he +had felt in his brief intercourse with the gruff hunter of the Swamp had +remained a bright spot in his lonely life. He naturally enjoyed with +much greater zest the company of the lively boy who had thus +unexpectedly crossed his path, but when he retired for the night--having +told the lad to make for himself a couch in the fire-wood hut--the utter +desolation of his life became, if possible, more deeply impressed on +him. + +During the night his wounds inflamed and became much more painful, and +in the morning--whether from this cause or not, we cannot say--he found +himself in a high fever. + +His new friend, like most healthy boys, was a profound sleeper, and when +the time for breakfast arrived he found it necessary to get up and awake +him. + +"Ho! lad, rise," he cried at the entrance to the firewood hut, "you +slumber soundly. Come out and help me to get ready our morning meal." + +The lad obeyed at once. + +"What is your name?" he asked, as the lad appeared. + +"Cormac," he replied. + +"Well, Cormac, do you roast the meat this morning. Truly, it seems that +you have come just in the nick of time, for I feel so ill that my head +seems like a lump of stone, and my skin is burning. It is not often +that I have had to ask the aid of man in such matters. Will you get me +a draught of water from the spring hard by? I will lie down again for a +little." + +Cormac willingly ran to a neighbouring spring and filled thereat a cup +made of the bark of the birch tree, with which he returned to Bladud's +hut. + +"Just put it inside the door where I can reach it," shouted the prince. +"Do not enter on any account." + +Lifting a corner of the skin that covered the entrance, the lad placed +the cup inside, and then, sitting down by the fire outside, proceeded to +prepare breakfast. + +When it was ready he called to Bladud to say whether he would have some, +at the same time thrusting a savoury rib underneath the curtain; but the +prince declined it. + +"I cannot eat," he said; "let me lie and rest if possible. My poor boy, +this is inhospitable treatment. Yet I cannot help it." + +"Never mind me," returned Cormac, lightly. "I like to nurse the sick, +and I'll keep you well supplied with water, and cook venison or birds +too if you want them. I can even shoot them if required." + +"No need for that," returned Bladud, "there is plenty of food laid up +for winter. But don't come inside my hut, remember. It will be death +if you do!" + +All that day the lad sat by the fire or went to the well for water, of +which his patient drank continuously. During the night the prince was +very restless, and groaned a good deal, so the boy resolved to sit up +and watch by the fire. Next morning Bladud was delirious, and as he +could not rise even to fetch from the door the water for which he +thirsted, Cormac resolved to disobey orders and risk the consequences. +Entering the hut, therefore, and sitting down beside the patient, he +tended him for many days and nights--taking what rest he could obtain by +snatches beside the camp-fire. + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +THE PIGS' CURE. + +It was not long before our hero recovered from his delirium. Leading, +as he had been doing, an abstemious and healthy life, ordinary disease +could not long maintain its grasp of him. His superabundant life seemed +to cast it off with the ease with which his physical frame was able to +cast aside human foes. But he could not thus shake off the leprosy. + +One of the first things he did on recovering consciousness was to +uncover his arm. The fatal spot had increased considerably in size. +With something of a shudder he looked round his little hut, endeavouring +to remember where he was and to recall recent events. He was alone at +the time, and he fancied the fight with the robbers and rescue of the +boy must have been all a dream. The name Cormac, however, puzzled him +not a little. Many a time before that had he dreamed of vivid scenes +and thrilling incidents, but never in his recollection had he dreamt a +name! + +Being thoughtfully disposed, he lay meditating listlessly on this point +in that tranquil frame of mind which often accompanies convalescence, +and had almost fallen asleep when a slight noise outside awoke him. The +curtain-door was lifted, and Cormac, entering, sat quietly down on a +block of wood beside him. + +Bladud became suddenly aware that he had not been dreaming, but he did +not move. Through his slightly opened eyelids he watched the lad while +he mixed some berries in a cup of water. As he lay thus silently +observant, he was deeply impressed with the handsome countenance of his +nurse and the graceful movements of his slight figure. + +Presently the thought of his disease recurred to him--it was seldom, +indeed, absent from his mind--and the strict injunctions which he had +given to his young companion. + +"Boy!--boy!" he cried suddenly, with a vigour that caused the boy to +start off his seat and almost capsize the cup, "did I not forbid you to +enter my hut or to touch me?" + +At first Cormac looked alarmed, but, seeing that a decided change for +the better had taken place in his patient, his brow smoothed and he +laughed softly. + +"How dared you to disobey me?" exclaimed Bladud again in stern tones. + +"I dared because I saw you were unable to prevent me," returned the lad, +with a quiet smile. "Besides, you were too ill to feed yourself, so, of +course, I had to do it for you. Do you suppose I am so ungrateful to +the man who saved my life as to stand aside and let him die for want of +a helping hand? Come, now, be reasonable and let me give you this +drink." He approached as he spoke. + +"Keep off!--keep off, I say," shouted the prince in a voice so resolute +that Cormac was fain to obey. "It is bad enough to come into my hut, +but you _must not_ touch me!" + +"Why not?--I have touched you already." + +"How! when?" + +"I have lifted your head many a time to enable you to drink when you +could not lift it yourself." + +A groan escaped Bladud. + +"Then it is too late! Look at this," he cried, suddenly uncovering his +arm. + +"What is that?" asked the boy, with a look of curiosity. + +"It is--leprosy!" + +"I am not afraid of leprosy!" + +"Not afraid of it!" exclaimed the prince, "that may well be, for you +have the air of one who fears nothing; but it will kill you for all +that, unless the Maker of all defends you, for it is a dread--a +terrible--disease that no strength can resist or youth throw off. It +undermines the health and eats the flesh off the bones, renders those +whom it attacks horrible to look at, and in the end it kills them. But +it is possible that you may not yet have caught the infection, poor lad, +so you must keep away from me now, and let not a finger touch me +henceforth. Your life, I say, may depend on it." + +"I will obey you as to that," replied Cormac, "now that you are +beginning to recover, but I must still continue to put food and water +within your reach." + +"Be it so," rejoined the prince, turning away with a slight groan, for +his excitement not less than the conversation had exhausted him. In a +few minutes more he was asleep with an expression of profound anxiety +stereotyped on his countenance. + +It was not long after the fever left him that returning strength enabled +Bladud to crawl out of his hut, and soon after that he was able to +ramble through the woods in company with Cormac, and with Brownie--that +faithful friend who had lain by his master's side during all his +illness. The sparkling river gladdened the eyes, and the bracing air +and sunshine strengthened the frame of the prince, so that with the +cheerful conversation of Cormac and the gambols of his canine friend he +was sometimes led to forget for a time the dark cloud that hung over +him. + +One day he was struck by something in the appearance of his dog, and, +sitting down on a bank, he called it to him. After a few minutes' +careful examination he turned to Cormac with a look of deep anxiety. + +"My boy," he said, "I verily believe that the hound is smitten with my +own complaint. In his faithful kindness he has kept by me until I have +infected him." + +"That cannot be," returned Cormac, "for, during my rambles alone, when +you were too ill to move, I saw that a great many of the pigs were +affected by a skin disease something like that on the dog, and, you +know, you could not have infected the pigs, for you have never touched +them." + +Bladud's anxiety was not removed but deepened when he heard this, for he +called to remembrance the occasion when he had rescued one of the little +pigs and carried it for some distance in his arms. + +"And, do you know," continued the lad, "I have observed a strange thing. +I have seen that many of the pigs, affected with this complaint, have +gone down to the place where the hot waters rise, and, after bathing +there, have returned all covered with mud, and these pigs seem to have +got better of the disease, while many of those which did not go down to +the swamp have died." + +"That is strange indeed," returned the prince; "I must see to this, for +if these waters cure the pigs, why not the dog?" + +"Ay," rejoined Cormac, "and why not the man?" + +"Because my disease is well known to be incurable." + +"Are you sure?" + +"We can hardly be sure of anything, not even of killing our mid-day +meal," rejoined the prince. "See, there goes a bird that is big enough +to do for both of us. Try your hand." + +"That will be but losing an opportunity, for, as you know, I am not a +good marksman," returned the youth, fitting an arrow quickly to his bow +nevertheless, and discharging it. Although the bird in question was +large and not far off, the arrow missed the mark, but startled the bird +so that it took wing. Before it had risen a yard from the ground, +however, an arrow from Bladud's bow transfixed it. + +That night, after the bird had been eaten, when Brownie was busy with +the scraps, and Cormac had retired to his couch in the firewood booth, +Bladud lay in his hut unable to sleep because of what he had heard and +seen that day. "Hope springs eternal in the human breast"--not less in +the olden time than now. At all events it welled up in the breast of +the royal outcast with unusual power as he waited anxiously for the +first dawn of day. + +Up to this time, although living within a few miles of it, the prince +had not paid more than one or two visits to the Hot Swamp, because birds +and other game did not seem to inhabit the place, and the ground was +difficult to traverse. He had, of course, speculated a good deal as to +the cause of the springs, but had not come to any conclusions more +satisfactory than have been arrived at by the scientific minds of modern +days. That heat of some sort was the cause applied in one fashion or +another to the water so as to make it almost boil he had no manner of +doubt, but what caused the heat he could not imagine, and it certainly +did not occur to him that the interior of the earth was a lake of fire-- +the lovely world of vision being a mere crust. At least, if it did, he +was never heard to say so. + +But now he went down to the swamp with a renewed feeling of hope that +gave fresh impulse to his heart and elasticity to his tread. + +Arrived at the place, he observed that numbers of his porcine family +were there before him. On seeing him they retreated with indignant +grunts--their hasty retreat being accelerated by a few remarks from +Brownie. + +Making his way to what he believed to be the main fountain of the +spring, the prince and the dog stood contemplating it for some time. +Then the former dipped his hand in, but instantly withdrew it, for he +found the water to be unbearably hot. Following its course, however, +and testing it as he went along, he soon came to a spot where the +temperature was sufficiently cool to render it agreeable. Here, finding +a convenient hole big enough to hold him, he stripped and bathed. +Brownie, who seemed much interested and enlivened by his master's +proceedings, joined him on invitation, and appeared to enjoy himself +greatly. Thereafter they returned home to breakfast and found Cormac +already up and roasting venison ribs before the fire. + +"I thought you were still sound asleep in your hut," he said in +surprise, as they came up, "and I have been doing my best to make little +noise, for fear of awaking you. Have you been bathing at the springs? +I see the hound's coat is muddy." + +"Thanks for your care, Cormac. Ay, we have indeed had a bath--Brownie +and I. You see I have taken your advice, and am trying the pigs' cure." + +"Right, Bladud. Wiser men have learned lessons from pigs." + +"Are you not presumptuous, my lad, to suggest that there may be a wiser +man than I?" + +"Truly, no, for taking the advice of a mere stripling like me, is not a +sign of wisdom in a man." + +"In the present case you are perhaps right, but there are some +striplings whose wisdom is sufficient to guide men. However, I will +hope that even you, with all your presumption, may be right this time." + +"That encourages me to offer additional advice," retorted the lad with a +laugh, "namely, that you should devote your attention to these ribs, for +you will find them excellent, and even a full-grown man can hardly fail +to know that without food no cure can be effected." + +"You are right, my boy. Sit down and set me an example, for youth, not +less than age, must be supported." + +Without more words they set to work, first throwing a bone to the hound, +in order, as Bladud remarked, that they might all start on equal terms. + +From that day the health of the prince began to mend--slowly but +steadily the spot on his arm also began to diminish and to assume a more +healthy aspect. Brownie also became convalescent, and much to the joy +of Bladud, Cormac showed no symptoms of having caught the disease. +Still, as a precaution, they kept studiously apart, and the prince +observed--and twitted the boy with the fact--that the more he gained in +health, and the less danger there was of infection, the more anxious did +he seem to be to keep away from him! + +Things were in this state when, one evening, they received a visit-- +which claims a new chapter to itself. + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +IN WHICH VERY PERPLEXING EVENTS OCCUR. + +The visitor referred to in the last chapter was a tall, broad-shouldered +old man with a snowy head of hair and a flowing white beard, a long, +loose black garment, and a stout staff about six feet long. + +Cormac had gone to a spring for water at the time he arrived, and Bladud +was lying on his back inside his hut. + +"Is any one within?" demanded the stranger, lifting a corner of the +curtain. + +"Enter not here, whoever you are!" replied the prince quickly, springing +up--"stay--I will come out to you." + +"You are wonderfully inhospitable," returned the stranger, as the prince +issued from the hut and stood up with an inquiring look which suddenly +changed to one of astonishment. + +"Beniah!" he exclaimed. + +"Even so," replied the Hebrew, holding out his hand, but Bladud drew +back. + +"What! will you neither permit me to enter your house nor shake your +hand? I was not so churlish when you visited my dwelling." + +"You know well, old man, that I do not grudge hospitality, but fear to +infect you." + +"Yes, I know it well," rejoined the Hebrew, smiling, "and knowing that +you were here, I turned aside on my journey to inquire as to your +welfare." + +"I have much to say about my welfare and strange things to tell you, but +first let me know what has brought you to this part of the land--for if +you have turned aside to see me--seeing me has not been your main +object." + +"You are right. Yet it pleases me well to use this opportunity, and to +see by your looks and bearing, that the disease seems to have been +arrested." + +"Yes, thanks be to the All-seeing One, I am well, or nearly so. But +proceed to explain the reason of your journey." + +"The cause of it is the unaccountable disappearance of the girl named +Branwen." + +"What! she who is the bosom friend of my sister Hafrydda?" + +"The same. She had fled, you may remember, from your father's court for +fear of being compelled to wed with Gunrig, the chief whose crown you +cracked so deftly on the day of your arrival. She, poor thing, took +refuge at first with me. I hid her for some time--" + +"Then," interrupted the prince, "she must have been hidden in your hut +at the time of my visit!" + +"She was. But that was no business of yours." + +"Surely it was, old man, for my father's business is my business." + +"Yea, but it was not my business to enlighten you, or the king either, +while I had reason to know that he meant unduly to coerce the maiden. +However, there she was hidden, as I tell you. Now, you are aware that +Branwen's father Gadarn is a great chief, whose people live far away in +the northern part of Albion. I bade Branwen remain close in my hut, in +a secret chamber, while I should go and acquaint her father with her +position, and fetch him down with a strong band of his retainers to +rescue her. You should have seen the visage of Gadarn, when I told him +the news. A wild boar of the woods could scarce have shown his tusks +more fiercely. He not only ordered an armed band to get ready, +instantly, but he roused the whole country around, and started off that +same day with all his followers armed to the teeth. Of course I led +them. In due course we arrived at my hut, when--lo! I found that the +bird was flown!" + +"I could see by the appearance of things," continued the Hebrew, "that +the foolish girl had left of her own will, for there was no evidence of +violence anywhere--which would doubtless have been the case if robbers +had found her and carried her away, for they would certainly have +carried off some of my goods along with her. The rage of her father on +making this discovery was terrible. He threatened at once to cut off my +old head, and even drew his sword with intent to act the part of +executioner. But I reminded him that if he did so, he would cut off the +only head that knew anything about his daughter, and that I had still +some knowledge regarding her with which he was not acquainted. + +"This arrested his hand just in time, for I actually fancied that I had +begun to feel the edge of his sword slicing into my spinal marrow. When +he had calmed himself enough to listen, I told him that Branwen had +spoken about paying a visit to the Hot Springs--that I knew she was bent +on going there, for some reason that I could not understand, and that I +thought it more than likely she had gone. `Axe-men, to the front! Form +long line! hooroo!' yelled the chief--(or something of that sort, for +I'm a man of peace, and don't understand warlike orders), and away went +the whole host at a run, winding through the forest like a great snake; +Gadarn and I leading them, except when the thickets became impenetrable, +and then the axe-men were ordered to the front and soon broke them down. +And so, in course of time, we came within a few miles of the Hot Swamp, +and--and, as I have said, I have been permitted to turn aside to visit +you." + +"Truly a strange tale," remarked the prince. "And is the armed host of +Gadarn actually within a few miles of us?" + +"It is; and, to say truth, I have come out to search for you chiefly to +inquire whether you have seen any young woman at all resembling Branwen +during your wanderings in this region?" + +The Hebrew looked keenly at the prince as he put this question. + +"You forget I have never seen this girl, and, therefore, could not know +her even if I had met her. But, in truth, I have not seen any woman, +young or old, since I came here. Nor have I seen any human being save +my mad master, Konar, and a poor youth whom I rescued some time ago from +the hands of robbers. He has nursed me through a severe illness, and is +even now with me. But what makes you think that Branwen intended to +come to the Swamp?" + +"Because--because, she had reasons of her own. I do not profess to +understand the workings of a young girl's mind," answered the Hebrew. + +"And what will you do," said Bladud, "now that you find she has not been +here? Methinks that when Gadarn hears of your failure to find her at +the Swamp, your spinal marrow and his sword will still stand a good +chance of becoming acquainted." + +The Hebrew looked perplexed, but, before he could answer, Brownie came +bounding gaily round the corner of the hut. Seeing a stranger, he +stopped suddenly, displayed his teeth and growled. + +"Down, pup! He is not accustomed to visitors, you see," said his master +apologetically. + +At that moment Cormac turned the corner of the hut, bearing an earthen +jar of water on his shoulder. His eyes opened wide with surprise, so +did those of the Hebrew, and the jar dropped to the ground, where it +broke, and Brownie, quick to see and seize his opportunity, began to lap +its contents. The prince--also wide-eyed--gazed from one to the other. +It was a grand _tableau vivant_! + +The first to recover himself and break the spell was Cormac. Leaping +forward, he grasped the old man by the hand, and turning so as to +present his back to Bladud, gave the Hebrew a look so powerfully +significant that that son of Israel was quite disconcerted. + +"My old, kind friend--is it--can it--be really yourself? So far from +home--so unexpected! It makes me so glad to see you," said the youth. +Then, turning to Bladud, "A very old friend of mine, who helped me once +in a time of great distress. I am so rejoiced, for now he will guide me +back to my own home. You know I have sometimes talked of leaving you +lately, Bladud." + +"You say truth, my young friend. Frequently of late, since I have been +getting well, you have hinted at a wish to go home, though you have not +yet made it clear to me where that home is; and sad will be the day when +you quit me. I verily believe that I should have died outright, Beniah, +but for the kind care of this amiable lad. But it is selfish of me to +wish you to stay--especially now that you have found a friend who, it +would seem, is both able and willing to guard you through the woods in +safety. Yet, now I think, my complaint is so nearly cured that I might +venture to do that myself." + +"Not so," returned the lad, quickly. "You are far from cured yet. To +give up using the waters at this stage of the cure would be fatal. It +would perhaps let the disease come back as bad as before." + +"Nay, but the difficulty lies here," returned the prince, smiling at the +boy's eagerness. "This good old man is at present engaged as guide to +an army, and dare not leave his post. A foolish girl named Branwen fled +some time ago from my father's house, intending, it is supposed, to go +to some friends living not far from the Hot Swamp. They have been +searching for her in all directions, and at last her father, with a host +at his heels, has been led to within a few miles of this place, but the +girl has not yet been discovered; so the search will doubtless be +continued." + +"Is that so?" asked Cormac of the Hebrew, pointedly. + +"It is so." + +"What is the name of the chief whose daughter has been _so foolish_ as +to run away from her friends?" + +"Gadarn," answered Beniah. + +"Oh! I know him!" exclaimed Cormac in some excitement, "and I know many +of his people. I lived with them once, long, long ago. How far off is +the camp, did you say?" + +"An hour's walk or so." + +"In _that_ direction?" asked Cormac, pointing. + +"Yes, in that direction." + +"Then I will go and see them," said the lad, picking up his bow and +arrows. "You can wait here till I come back, Beniah, and keep Bladud +company--for he is accustomed to company now! Who knows but I may pick +up this _foolish_ girl on my way to the camp!" + +The lad hurried into the woods without waiting a reply; but he had not +gone a hundred yards when he turned and shouted, "Hi, Beniah!" at the +same time beckoning with his hand. + +The Hebrew hurried towards him. + +"Beniah," said the lad impressively, as he drew near, "go back and +examine Bladud's arm, and let me know when we meet again what you think +of it." + +"But how--why--wherefore came you--?" exclaimed the Hebrew, pausing in +perplexity. + +"Ask no questions, old man," returned the youth with a laugh. "There is +no time to explain--. He will suspect--robbers--old mother--bad son-- +escape--boy's dress--fill up that story if you can! More hereafter. +But--observe, if you say one word about _me to anybody_, Gadarn's sword +is sharp and his arm strong! You promise?" + +"I promise." + +"Solemnly--on your word as a Hebrew?" + +"Solemnly--on my word as a Hebrew. But--?" + +With another laugh the boy interrupted him, turned, and disappeared in +the woods. + +"A strange, though a good and affectionate boy," remarked Bladud when +the Hebrew returned. "What said he?" + +"He bade me examine your arm, and tell him what I think of it on his +return." + +"That is of a piece with all the dear boy's conduct," returned the +prince. "You have no idea what a kind nurse he has been to me, at a +time when I was helpless with fever. Indeed, if I had not been helpless +and delirious, I would not have allowed him to come near me. You have +known him before, it seems?" + +"Yes; I have known him for some time." + +From this point the prince pushed the Hebrew with questions, which the +latter--bearing in remembrance the sharpness of Gadarn's sword, and the +solemnity of his promise--did his best to evade, and eventually +succeeded in turning the conversation by questioning Bladud as to his +intercourse with the hunter of the Swamp, and his mode of life since his +arrival in that region. Then he proceeded to examine the arm +critically. + +"It is a wonderful cure," he said, after a minute inspection. "Almost +miraculous." + +"Cure!" exclaimed the prince. "Do you, then, think me cured?" + +"Indeed I do--at least, very nearly so. I have had some experience of +your complaint in the East, and it seems to me that a perfect cure is at +most certain--if it has not been already effected." + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +DESCRIBES AN ARDENT SEARCH. + +While the prince and the Hebrew were thus conversing, Cormac was +speeding towards the camp of Gadarn. He quickly arrived, and was +immediately arrested by one of the sentinels. Taken before one of the +chief officers, he was asked who he was, and where he came from. + +"That I will tell only to your chief," said the lad. + +"_I_ am a chief," replied the officer proudly. + +"That may be so; but I want to speak with _your_ chief, and I must see +him alone." + +"Assuredly thou art a saucy knave, and might be improved by a +switching." + +"Possibly; but instead of wasting our time in useless talk, it would be +well to convey my message to Gadarn, for my news is urgent; and I would +not give much for your head if you delay." + +The officer laughed; but there was that in the boy's tone and manner +that induced him to obey. + +Gadarn, the chief, was seated on a tree-stump inside of a booth of +boughs, leaves, and birch-bark, that had been hastily constructed for +his accommodation. He was a great, rugged, north-country man, of +immense physical power--as most chiefs were in those days. He seemed to +be brooding over his sorrows at the time his officer entered. + +"A prisoner waits without," said the officer. "He is a stripling; and +says he has urgent business to communicate to you alone." + +"Send him hither, and let every one get out of ear-shot!" said Gadarn +gruffly. + +A minute later Cormac appeared, and looked wistfully at the chief, who +looked up with a frown. + +"Are you the pris--" + +He stopped suddenly, and, springing to his feet, advanced a step with +glaring eyes and fast-coming breath, as he held out both hands. + +With a cry of joy, Cormac sprang forward and threw his arms round +Gadarn's neck, exclaiming-- + +"Father!--_dear_ father!" + +For a few moments there was silence, and a sight was seen which had not +been witnessed for many a day--two or three gigantic tears rolled down +the warrior's rugged cheeks, one of them trickling to the end of his +weather-beaten nose and dropping on his iron-grey beard. + +"My child," he said at length, "where--how came you--why, this--" + +"Yes, yes, father," interrupted the lad, with a tearful laugh. "I'll +tell you all about it in good time; but I've got other things to speak +of which are more interesting to both of us. Sit down and let me sit on +your knee, as I used to do long ago." + +Gadarn meekly obeyed. + +"Now listen," said Cormac, putting his mouth to his father's ear and +whispering. + +The chief listened, and the first effect of the whispering was to +produce a frown. This gradually and slowly faded, and gave place to an +expression of doubt. + +"Are you sure, child?--sure that you--" + +"Quite--quite sure," interrupted Cormac with emphasis. "But that is not +all--listen!" + +Gadarn listened again; and, as the whispering continued, there came the +wrinkles of humour over his rugged face; then a snort that caused Cormac +to laugh ere he resumed his whispering. + +"And he knows it?" cried Gadarn, interrupting and suppressing a laugh. + +"Yes; knows all about it." + +"And the other doesn't?" + +"Has not the remotest idea!" + +"Thinks that you're a--" + +Here the chief broke off, got up, placed his hands on both his sides and +roared with laughter, until the anxious sentinels outside believed that +he had gone mad. + +With the energy of a strong nature he checked himself and became +suddenly grave. + +"Listen!" he said; "you have made me listen a good deal to you. It is +my turn now. Before the sun stands there (pointing), you will be on +your way to the court of King Hudibras, while I remain, and make this +Hebrew lead me all over the country in search of--ha! ha!--my daughter. +We must search and search every hole and corner of the land; for we +must--we must find her--or perish!" + +Again the chief exploded, but subdued himself immediately; and, going to +the entrance of the booth, summoned his lieutenant, who started forward +with the promptitude of an apparition, and with an expression of some +curiosity on his countenance, for he also had heard the laughter. + +"Get ready forty men," said the chief; "to convey this lad in safety to +the court of King Hudibras. He is well known there. Say not that I +sent you, but that, in ranging the country, you found him lost in the +woods, and, understanding him to belong to the household of the king, +you brought him in." + +Without a word the lieutenant withdrew, and the plotters looked at each +other with that peculiarly significant expression which has been the +characteristic of intriguers in all ages. + +"Thou wilt know how to act, my little one," said the chief. + +"Yes, better even than you imagine, my big one," replied Cormac. + +"What! is there something beyond my ken simmering in thy noddle, thou +pert squirrel?" + +"Perchance there is, father dear." + +A sound at the root of Gadarn's nose betrayed suppressed laughter, as he +turned away. + +Quarter of an hour later a band of foot-soldiers defiled out of the +camp, with Cormac in their midst, mounted on a small pony, and Gadarn, +calling another of his lieutenants, told him to let it be known +throughout the camp, that if any officer or man should allow his tongue +to wag with reference to the lad who had just left the camp, his tongue +would be silenced for all future time, and an oak limb be decorated with +an acorn that never grew on it. + +"You know, and they know, that I'm a man of my word--away!" said the +chief, returning to the privacy of his booth. + +While these events were happening at the camp, Bladud and Beniah were +discussing many subjects--religion among others, for they were both +philosophical as well as seriously-minded. But neither their philosophy +nor their religion were profound enough at that time to remove anxiety +about the youth who had just left them. + +"I wish that I were clear of the whole business," remarked the Hebrew +uneasily, almost petulantly. + +"Why, do you fear that any evil can happen to the boy?" asked Bladud +anxiously. + +"Oh! I fear not for him. It is not that. He will be among friends at +the camp--but--but I know not how Gadarn may take it." + +"Take what?" demanded the prince in surprise. + +"Take--take my failure to find his daughter." + +"Ha! to be sure; he may be ill-pleased at that. But if I thought there +was any chance of evil befalling Cormac in the camp, by all the gods of +the east, west, north, and south," cried the prince, carried away by the +strength of his feelings into improper and even boastful language, "I +would go and demand his liberation, or fight the whole tribe +single-handed." + +"A pretty boast for a man in present safety," remarked the Hebrew, with +a remonstrative shake of the head. + +"Most true," returned the prince, flushing; "I spoke in haste, yet it +was not altogether a boast, for I could challenge Gadarn to single +combat, and no right-minded chief could well refuse to let the issue of +the matter rest on that." + +"Verily he would not refuse, for although not so tall as you are, he is +quite as stout, and it is a saying among his people that he fears not +the face of any man--something like his daughter in that." + +"Is she so bold, then?" + +"Nay, not bold, but--courageous." + +"Humph! that is a distinction, no doubt, but the soft and gentle +qualities in women commend themselves more to me than those which ought +chiefly to characterise man. However, be this as it may, if Cormac does +not return soon after daybreak to-morrow, I will hie me to the camp to +see how it fares with him." + +As next morning brought no Cormac, or any news of him, Bladud started +for the camp, accompanied by the anxious Hebrew. + +They found the chief at a late breakfast. He looked up without rising +when they were announced. + +"Ha! my worthy Hebrew--is it thou? What news of my child? Have you +heard of her whereabouts?" + +"Not yet, sir," answered Beniah with a look of intense perplexity. "But +I had thought that--that is, by this time--" + +"What! no news?" cried the chief, springing up in fierce ire, and +dropping the chop with which he had been engaged. "Did you not say that +you felt sure you would hear of her from your friend? Is this the +friend that you spoke of?" + +He turned a keen look of inquiry, with not a little admiration in it, on +Bladud. + +"This is indeed he," answered Beniah, "and I have--but, but did not a +lad--a fair youth--visit your camp yesterday?" + +"No--no lad came near the camp yesterday," answered the chief gruffly. + +Here was cause for wonder, both for the Hebrew and the prince. + +"Forgive me, sir," said the latter, with a deferential air that greatly +pleased the warrior, "forgive me if I venture to intrude my own troubles +on one whose anxiety must needs be greater, but this youth left my hut +yesterday to visit you, saying that he knew you well, and if he has not +arrived some evil must have befallen him, for the distance he had to +traverse was very short." + +"That is sad," returned the chief in a tone of sympathy, "for he must +either have been caught by robbers, or come by an accident on the way. +Did you not follow his footsteps as you came along?" + +"We never thought of following them--the distance being so short," +returned the prince with increasing anxiety. + +"Are you, then, so fond of this lad?" asked the chief. + +"Ay, that am I, and with good reason, for he has tended me with +self-denying care during illness, and in circumstances which few men +would have faced. In truth, I feel indebted to him for my life." + +"Say you so?" cried the chief with sudden energy; "then shall we search +for _him_ as well as for my daughter. And you, Hebrew, shall help us. +Doubtless, young man, you will aid us by your knowledge of the district. +I have secured the services of the hunter of the Swamp, so we can +divide into three bands, and scour the whole country round. We cannot +fail to find them, for neither of them can have got far away, whether +they be lost or stolen. Ho! there. Assemble the force, instantly. +Divide it into three bands. My lieutenant shall head one. You, Bladud, +shall lead another, and I myself will head the third, guided by Beniah. +Away!" + +With a wave of both hands Gadarn dismissed those around him, and retired +to his booth to arm himself, and prepare for the pending search. + +The Hebrew was sorely tempted just then to speak out, but his solemn +promise to Branwen sealed his lips. The fact also that the girl seemed +really to have disappeared, filled him with alarm as well as surprise, +and made him anxious to participate in the search. In a perplexed state +of mind, and unenviable temper, he went away with Bladud to the place +where the force was being marshalled. + +"Strange that fate should send us on a double search of this kind," +remarked the prince as they hurried along. + +"Whether fate sent us, or some mischievous sprite, I know not," growled +the Hebrew, "but there is no need for more than one search." + +"How!" exclaimed Bladud sternly. "Think you that my poor lad's fate is +not of as much interest to me as that of Gadarn's daughter is to him?" + +"Nay, verily, I presume not to gauge the interest of princes and +chiefs," returned Beniah, with an exasperated air. "All I know is, that +if we find the lad, we are full sure to find the lass not far off." + +"How? You speak in riddles to-day." + +"Ay, and there are like to be more riddles tomorrow, for what the upshot +of it will be is more than I can tell. See you not that, as the two +were lost about the same time, and near the same place, they will +probably be found together?" + +"Your wits seem to be shaken to-day, old man," rejoined Bladud, smiling, +"for these two were not lost about the same place or time." + +Fortunately for the Hebrew's peace of mind, an officer accosted them at +that moment, and, directing the one to head a band just ready to march, +led the other to the force which was to be commanded by the chief in +person. + +In a few minutes the three bands were in motion, the main bodies +marching north, south, and east, while strong parties were sent out from +each to skirmish in all directions. + +"Think you we shall find them, Hebrew?" asked the chief, who seemed to +be in a curiously impulsive state of mind. + +"I trust we may. It seems to me almost certain." + +"I hope so, for your sake as well as my own, old man; for, if we do not, +I will surely cut your head off for bringing me here for nothing." + +"Does it not seem unjust to punish a man for doing his best?" asked +Beniah. + +"It may seem so to you men of the east, but to the men of the west +justice is not held of much account." + +Proceeding round by the Hot Springs, the party led by Gadarn made a +careful inspection of every cavern, defile, glade, and thicket, +returning at evening towards the camp from which they set out, it having +been arranged that they were all to meet there and start again to renew +the search, in a wider circle, on the following morning. + +"No success," remarked Gadarn sternly, unbuckling his sword and flinging +it violently on the ground. + +"Not yet, but we may have better fortune tomorrow," said Beniah. + +"Don't you think the small footprints we saw near the Springs were those +of the boy?" + +"They may have been." + +"And those that we saw further on, but lost sight of in the rocky +ground--did they not look like those of a girl?" + +"They certainly did." + +"And yet strangely like to each other," said the chief. + +"Marvellously," returned Beniah. + +A slight sound in Gadarn's nose caused the Hebrew to look up quickly, +but the chief was gazing with stern gravity out at the opening of his +booth, where the men of his force could be seen busily at work felling +trees, kindling fires, and otherwise preparing for the evening meal. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +MORE SECRETS AND SURPRISES. + +All went well with the party that conducted Branwen to King Hudibras' +town until they reached the hut of Beniah the Hebrew, when the lad +suggested to the leader of the escort that they should put up there, as +it was too late to think of intruding on the king that night. + +As the lieutenant had been told to pay particular regard to the wishes +of his charge, he at once agreed. Indeed, during the journey, Cormac +(as we may here continue to call the girl) had expressed his wishes with +such a quiet, matter-of-course air of authority that the officer in +charge had come to the conclusion that the youth must be the son of some +person of importance--perhaps even of King Hudibras himself. He +therefore accorded him implicit obedience and deference. + +"The hut is too small for all of us," said Cormac; "the greater number +of your men must sleep outside; but that does not matter on so fine a +night." + +"True, it matters nothing," replied the officer. "We will all of us sup +and sleep round the campfires." + +"Nay, you and your lieutenant will sup with me. Afterwards you can join +the men. By-the-by, there is an old woman here, who takes charge--or +ought to take charge--of the Hebrew's dwelling during his absence." + +"I have not seen her," said the officer. + +"True--but she will no doubt make her appearance soon. Let her come and +go as she pleases without hindrance. It is not safe to thwart her, for +her temper is none of the sweetest, and she is apt to scratch." + +Supper was soon over, for the party had travelled all day, and were +weary. When it was finished Cormac again cautioned the officers not to +interfere with the old woman, for she was dangerous. + +"I will have a care," said the officer, laughing, as he and his +subaltern rose, bade their charge good-night, and took their leave. + +The instant they were gone Branwen pushed the plank-bridge across the +chasm, and disappeared in the secret cave. + +Half an hour later the two officers were seated with some of the men at +the camp-fire nearest the hut, making preparations for going to rest, +when they were startled by the creaking of the hut door. To their +intense surprise it opened wide enough to let a little old woman step +out. She was much bent, wore an old grey shawl over her head, and +leaned on a staff. For some moments she looked from side to side as if +in search of something. + +"See! the old woman!" murmured the officer in a low whisper. + +"True, but we did not see her enter the hut," replied the sub with a +solemn look. + +In those days witchcraft was implicitly believed in, so, when they saw +the old creature hobble towards them, they experienced feelings of alarm +that had never yet affected their manly bosoms in danger or in war. +Their faces paled a little, but their courage stood the test, for they +sat still till she came close enough to let her piercing dark eyes be +seen peering at them like those of a basilisk from out the folds of the +shawl that enveloped her. + +"Y-you are the--the old woman, I suppose?" said the officer in a +deferential tone. + +"Yes, I am the old woman, young man, and you will be an old woman too +when you reach my time of life," she replied, in a deep metallic voice. + +"I hope not," returned the officer, sincerely. + +"At all events you'll be a dead man before long if you don't attend to +what I say," continued the woman. "Your young master in the hut there +told me to tell you that he is tired and wants a good long rest, so you +are not to disturb him in the morning till he calls you. D'you hear?" + +"I hear, and will obey." + +"Eh? What? Speak out. I'm deaf." + +"I hear, and will attend to your wishes." + +"Humph! it will be worse for you if you don't," muttered the old hag, as +she turned away, hobbled into the woods, and slowly disappeared. + +It need scarcely be said that the lieutenant and his sub did not sleep +much that night. They discussed the subject of witches, their powers +and propensities, and the bad luck likely to attend those who actually +had the misfortune to see them, until the hair on their heads betrayed a +tendency to rise, and the grey dawn began to appear. Then they lay down +and indulged in some fitful slumber. But the discomforts of the night +were as nothing to the anxieties of the morning, for the lazy Cormac +seemed to have gone in for an extent of slumber that was out of all +reason, considering his circumstances. The ordinary breakfast hour +arrived, but there was no intimation of his having awoke. Hours passed, +but there was no call from the hut, and the officer, with +ever-increasing anxiety, bade his men to kick up a row--or words to that +effect. No command they ever received was more easy of fulfilment. +They laughed and talked; they cut down trees and cleaned their breakfast +utensils with overwhelming demonstration; they shouted, they even sang +and roared in chorus, but without effect. Noon arrived and passed, +still Cormac slept on. It was worse than perplexing--it was becoming +desperate! + +The officer commanding the party was a brave man; so was the sub. Their +native courage overcame their superstitious fears. + +"I'll be battle-axed!" exclaimed the first, using a very objectionable +old British oath, "if I don't rouse him, though all the witches in +Albion should withstand me." + +"And I'll back you up," said the sub with a frown that spoke volumes-- +perhaps, considering the times, we should have written--rolls of +papyrus. + +Accordingly the two went towards the hut, with pluck and misgiving +contending for the mastery. + +"Perchance the witch may have returned while we slept," said the sub in +a low voice. + +"Or she may have re-entered the hut invisibly--as she did at first," +replied the other. + +The door was found to be on the latch. The lieutenant opened it a +little and peeped in. + +"Ho! Cormac!" he shouted; "hi! ho! hooroo hooh!" but he shouted in +vain. + +Becoming accustomed to the dim light, he perceived that there was no one +within to answer to the call, so he suddenly sprang in, followed by the +sub and a few of the more daring spirits among the men. + +A hasty search revealed the fact that the lad was not to be seen. A +more minute and thorough inspection showed clearly that no one was +there. They did not, of course, discover the cave, for the plank had +been removed, but they gazed solemnly into the depths of the dark chasm +and wondered if poor Cormac had committed suicide there, or if the witch +had murdered him and thrown him in. Having neither rope nor ladder, and +the chasm appearing to be bottomless, they had no means of settling the +question. + +But now a point of far greater moment pressed on their consideration. +What was to be said to King Hudibras about the disappearance of the lad? +Would he believe them? It was not likely. And, on the other hand, +what would Gadarn say? Would _he_ believe them? He might, indeed, for +he knew them to be faithful, but that would not mitigate his wrath, and +when he was roused by neglected duty they knew too well that their lives +would hang on a thread. What was to be done? To go forward or backward +seemed to involve death! One only resource was left, namely, for the +whole band to go off on its own account and take to the woods as +independent robbers--or hunters--or both combined. + +In an unenviable frame of mind the lieutenant and his sub sat down to +the discussion of these knotty points and their mid-day meal. + +Meanwhile the witch, who had been the occasion of all this distress, +having got out of sight in the woods, assumed a very upright gait and +stepped out with a degree of bounding elasticity that would have done +credit to a girl of nineteen. + +The sun was just rising in a flood of glorious light when she entered +the suburbs of King Hudibras' town--having previously resumed her stoop +and hobbling gait. + +The king was lazy. He was still a-bed snoring. But the household was +up and at breakfast, when the witch--passing the guards who looked upon +her as too contemptible to question--knocked at the palace door. It was +the back-door, for even at that time palaces had such convenient +apertures, for purposes, no doubt, of undignified retreat. A menial +answered the knock--after wearisome delay. + +"Is the Princess Hafrydda within?" + +"She is," answered the menial, with a supercilious look, "but she is at +breakfast, and does not see poor people at such an hour." + +"Would she see rich people if they were to call at such an hour?" +demanded the witch, sharply. + +"Per--perhaps she would," replied the menial with some hesitation. + +"Then I'll wait here till she has finished breakfast. Is the king up?" + +"N-no. He still slumbers." + +"Hah! Like him! He was always lazy in the mornings. Go fetch me a +stool." + +The manner of the old woman with her magnificent dark eyes and deep +metallic voice, and her evident knowledge of the king's habits, were too +much for the menial--a chord of superstition had been touched; it +vibrated, and he was quelled. Humbly but quickly he fetched a stool. + +"Won't you step in?" he said. + +"No, I'll stop out!" she replied, and sat herself doggedly down, with +the air of one who had resolved never more to go away. + +Meanwhile, in the breakfast room of the palace, which was on the ground +floor--indeed, all the rooms of the palace were on the ground floor, for +there was no upper one--the queen and her fair daughter Hafrydda were +entertaining a stranger who had arrived the day before. + +He was an exceedingly handsome man of about six-and-twenty; moderately +tall and strong, but with an air of graceful activity in all his +movements that gave people, somehow, the belief that whatever he chose +to attempt he could do. Both his olive complexion and his tongue +betokened him a foreigner, for although the language he spoke was +Albionic, it was what we now style broken--very much broken indeed. +With a small head, short curly black hair, a very young beard, and small +pointed moustache, fine intellectual features, and an expression of +imperturbable good-humour, he presented an appearance which might have +claimed the regard of any woman. At all events the queen had formed a +very high opinion of him--and she was a woman of much experience, having +seen many men in her day. Hafrydda, though, of course, not so +experienced, fully equalled her mother, if she did not excel her, in her +estimate of the young stranger. + +As we should be unintelligible if we gave the youth's words in the +broken dialect, we must render his speech in fair English. + +"I cannot tell how deeply I am grieved to hear this dreadful news of my +dear friend," he said, with a look of profound sorrow that went home to +the mother's heart. + +"And did you really come to this land for the sole purpose of seeing my +dear boy?" asked the queen. + +"I did. You cannot imagine how much we loved each other. We were +thrown together daily--almost hourly. We studied together; we competed +when I was preparing for the Olympic games; we travelled in Egypt and +hunted together. Indeed, if it had not been for my dear old mother, we +should have travelled to this land in the same ship." + +"Your mother did not wish you to leave her, I suppose?" + +"Nay, it was I who would not leave _her_. Her unselfish nature would +have induced her to make any sacrifice to please me. It was only when +she died that my heart turned with unusual longing to my old companion +Bladud, and I made up my mind to quit home and traverse the great sea in +search of him." + +A grateful look shot from Hafrydda's blue eyes, but it was lost on the +youth, who sat gazing at the floor as if engrossed with his great +disappointment. + +"I cannot understand," he continued, in an almost reproachful tone, "how +you could ever make up your minds to banish him, no matter how deadly +the disease that had smitten him." + +The princess's fair face flushed deeply, and she shook back her golden +curls--her eyes flashing as she replied-- + +"We did not `make up our minds to banish him.' The warriors and people +would have compelled us to do it whether we liked or not, for they have +heard, alas! of the terrible nature of the disease. But the dear boy, +knowing this, went off in the night unknown to us, and without even +saying farewell. We have sent out parties to search for him several +times, but without success." + +The youth was evidently affected by this burst of feeling. + +"Ah," he returned, with a look of admiration at the princess, "that was +like him--like his noble, self-denying nature. But I will find him out, +you may depend on it, for I shall search the land in all directions till +I discover his retreat. If King Hudibras will grant me a few men to +help me--well. If not, I will do it by myself." + +"Thank you, good Dromas, for your purpose and your sympathy," said the +queen. "The king will be only too glad to help you--but here he comes +to speak for himself." + +The curtain door was tossed aside at the moment, and Hudibras strode +into the room with a beaming smile and a rolling gait that told of +redundant health, and showed that the cares of state sat lightly on him. + +"Welcome, good Dromas, to our board. I was too sleepy to see much of +you after your arrival last night. Mine eyes blinked like those of an +owl. Kiss me, wife and daughter," he added, giving the ladies a salute +that resounded through the room. "Have they told you yet about our poor +son Bladud?" + +The visitor had not time to reply, when a domestic appeared and said +there was an old woman at the door who would not go away. + +"Give her some cakes and send her off!" cried the king with a frown. + +"But she will not go till she has had converse with the princess." + +"I will go to her," said Hafrydda, rising. + +"Ay, go, my girl, and if thy sweet tongue fails to prevail, stuff her +mouth with meat and drink till she is too stout to walk. Come, my +queen, what have we this morning for breakfast? The very talking of +meat makes me hungry." + +At this juncture several dogs burst into the room and gambolled with +their royal master, as with one who is a familiar friend. + +When the princess reached the outer door she found the woman standing, +and evidently in a rage. + +"Is this the way King Hudibras teaches his varlets to behave to poor +people who are better than themselves?" + +"Forgive them, granny," said the princess, who was inclined to laugh, +but strove to keep her gravity, "they are but stupid rogues at worst." + +"Nay, but they are sly rogues at best!" retorted the old woman. "The +first that came, took me for a witch, and was moderately civil, but the +second took away my stool and threatened to set the dogs at me." + +"If this be so, I will have him cow-hided; but tell me--what would you +with me? Can I help you? Is it food that you want, or rest?" + +"Truly it is both food and rest that I want, at the proper times, but +what I want with you now, is to take me to your own room, and let me +talk to you." + +"That is a curious desire," returned Hafrydda, smiling, "but I will not +deny you. Come this way. Have you anything secret to tell me?" she +asked, when they were alone. + +"Ay, that have I," answered the woman in her natural voice, throwing off +her shawl and standing erect. + +The princess remained speechless, for her friend Branwen stood before +her. + +"Before I utter a word of explanation," she said, "let me say that your +brother is found, and safe, and well--or nearly so. This is the main +thing, but I will not tell you anything more, unless you give me your +solemn promise not to tell a word of it all to any one, till I give you +leave. Do you promise?" + +Hafrydda was so taken aback that she could do nothing for some time but +gaze in the girl's face. Then she laughed in an imbecile sort of way. +Then she burst into tears of joy, threw her arms round her friend's +neck, hugged her tight, and promised anything--everything--that she +chose to demand. + +When, an hour later, the Princess Hafrydda returned to the breakfast +room, she informed the king and queen that the old woman was not a +beggar; that she had kept her listening to a long story about lost men +and women and robbers; that she was a thorough deceiver; that some of +the servants believed her to be a witch, and that she had sent her away. + +"With an invitation to come back again, I'll be bound," cried the king, +interrupting. "It's always your way, my girl,--any one can impose on +you." + +"Well, father, she _did_ impose on me, and I _did_ ask her to come back +again." + +"I knew it," returned the king, with a loud laugh, "and she'll come, for +certain." + +"She will, you may be quite sure of that," rejoined the princess with a +gleeful laugh, as she left the room. + +About the same time, the little old woman left the palace and returned +to the hut of the Hebrew. + +Here, as she expected, she found that her escort had flown, and, a brief +inspection of their footprints showed that, instead of proceeding +towards the town, they had returned the way they came. + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +FURTHER SEARCHINGS AND PERPLEXITIES. + +While these events were taking place at court, the bold chief Gadarn was +ranging the country far and wide in search of his daughter Branwen. + +There was something in his manner which puzzled his followers not a +little, for he seemed to have changed his character--at least to have +added to it a strange, wild hilarity which suggested the idea that he +enjoyed the hunt and was in no hurry that it should come to an end. +Those who knew him best began at last to fear that anxiety had unsettled +his reason, and Bladud, who liked the man's gay, reckless disposition +and hearty good-humour, intermingled with occasional bursts of fierce +passion, was not only puzzled but distressed by the wild inconsistency +of his proceedings. The Hebrew, knowing to some extent the cause of +what he did, and feeling bound by his promise to conceal his knowledge, +was reduced to a state of mind that is not describable. + +On the one hand there was the mystery of Cormac's total disappearance in +a short walk of three miles. On the other hand, there was the utter +uselessness of searching for Branwen, yet the urgent need of searching +diligently for Cormac. Then there was the fear of consequences when the +fiery Gadarn should come to find out how he had been deceived, or +rather, what moderns might style humbugged; add to which he was debarred +the solace of talking the subject over with Bladud, besides being, in +consequence of his candid disposition, in danger of blurting out words +that might necessitate a revelation. One consequence was that, for the +time at least, the grave and amiable Hebrew became an abrupt, +unsociable, taciturn man. + +"What ails you just now, Beniah?" asked Bladud, one evening as they +walked together to Gadarn's booth, having been invited to supper. "You +seem out of condition mentally, if not bodily, as if some one had rubbed +you the wrong way." + +"Do I?" answered Beniah, with a frown and something between a grin and a +laugh. "Well, it is not easy to understand one's mental complaints, +much less to explain them." + +Fortunately their arrival at the booth put a timely end to the +conversation. + +"Ha! my long-legged prince and stalwart Hebrew!" cried the jovial chief +in a loud voice, "I began to fear that you had got lost--as folk seem +prone to do in this region--or had forgotten all about us! Come in and +sit ye down. Ho! varlet, set down the victuals. After all, you are +just in the nick of time. Well, Beniah, what think you of our search +to-day? Has it been close? Is it likely that we have missed any of the +caves or cliffs where robbers might be hiding?" + +"I think not. It seems to me that we have ransacked every hole and +corner in which there is a chance that the lad could be found." + +"The _lad_!" exclaimed Gadarn. + +"I--I mean--your daughter," returned the Hebrew, quickly. + +"Why don't you say what you mean, then? One expects a man of your years +to talk without confusion--or is it that you are really more anxious +about finding the boy than my girl?" + +"Nay, that be far from me," answered the Hebrew. "To say truth, I am to +the full as anxious to find the one as the other, for it matters not +which you--" + +"Matters not!" repeated Gadarn, fiercely. + +"Well, of course, I mean that my friendship for you and Bladud makes me +wish to see you each satisfied by finding both the boy and the girl." + +"For my part," said Bladud, quietly, "I sincerely hope that we may find +them both, for we are equally anxious to do so." + +"Equally!" exclaimed Gadarn, with a look of lofty surprise. "Dost mean +to compare your regard for your young friend with a father's love for +his only child!" + +The prince did not easily take offence, but he could not refrain from a +flush and a frown as he replied, sharply-- + +"I make no useless comparisons, chief. It is sufficient that we are +both full of anxiety, and are engaged in the same quest." + +"Ay, the same quest--undoubtedly," observed the Hebrew in a grumbling, +abstracted manner. + +"If it were possible," returned Gadarn, sternly, "to give up the search +for your boy and confine it entirely to my girl, I would do so. But as +they went astray about the same place, we are compelled, however little +we like it, to hunt together." + +"Not compelled, chief," cried Bladud, with a look and a flash in his +blue eye which presaged a sudden rupture of friendly relations. "We can +each go our own way and hunt on our own account." + +"Scarcely," replied the chief, "for if you found my daughter, you would +be bound in honour to deliver her up; and if I found your boy, I should +feel myself bound to do the same." + +"It matters not a straw which is found," cried the Hebrew, exasperated +at the prospect of a quarrel between the two at such an inopportune +moment. "Surely, as an old man, I have the right to remonstrate with +you for encouraging anything like disagreement when our success in +finding the boy,--I--I mean the girl,--depends--" + +A burst of laughter from the chief cut him short. + +"You don't seem to be quite sure of what you mean," he cried, "or to be +able to say it. Come, come, prince, if the Hebrew claims a right to +remonstrate because he is twenty years or so older than I am, surely I +may claim the same right, for I am full twenty years older than you. Is +it seemly to let your hot young blood boil over at every trifle? Here, +let me replenish your platter, for it is ill hunting after man, woman, +or beast without a stomach full of victuals." + +There was no resisting the impulsive chief. + +Both his guests cleared their brows and laughed--though there was still +a touch of exasperation in the Hebrew's tone. + +While the search was being thus diligently though needlessly prosecuted +in the neighbourhood of the Hot Swamp by Gadarn, who was dearly fond of +a practical joke, another chief, who was in no joking humour, paid a +visit one evening to his mother. Perhaps it is unnecessary to say that +this chief was Gunrig. + +"From all that I see and hear, mother," he said, walking up and down the +room, as was his habit, with his hands behind him, "it is clear that if +I do not go about it myself, the king will let the matter drop; for he +is convinced that the girl has run off with some fellow, and will easily +make her way home." + +"Don't you think he may be right, my son?" + +"No, I don't, my much-too-wise mother. I know the girl better than +that. It is enough to look in her face to know that she could not run +away with any fellow!" + +"H'm!" remarked the woman significantly. + +"What say you?" demanded the chief, sharply. + +"I scarcely know what to say. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to +take a band of our own men and go off in search of the girl yourself." + +"That's just what I've made up my mind to do; but I wanted to see if +Hudibras would get up a band to join mine, for I dare not take many away +from the town when that scoundrel Addedomar is threatening to make a +raid upon us." + +"My son," said the woman anxiously, "what threatened raid do you speak +of?" + +"Did you not hear? Since the last time we gave that robber a drubbing +at the Hot Swamp, he has taken to the woods and gathered together a +large band of rascals like himself. We would not have minded that--for +honest men are always numerous enough to keep villains in order--but two +chiefs who have long been anxious to take possession of the land round +the Swamp have agreed to join with him, so that they form a formidable +body of warriors--too large to be treated with contempt." + +"This is bad news, Gunrig. How does the king take it?" + +"In his usual way. He does not believe in danger or mischief till it +has overtaken him, and it is almost too late for action. There is one +hope, however, that he will be induced to move in time. A young fellow +has come from the far East, who was a great friend of that long-legged +fellow Bladud, and he is bent on finding out where his friend has gone. +Of course the king is willing to let him have as many men as he wants, +though he sternly refuses to let Bladud return home; and I hope to +induce this youth--Dromas, they call him--to join me, so that we may +search together; for, of course, the search for the man may result in +finding the girl. My only objection is that if we do find Bladud, I +shall have to fight and kill him--unless the leprosy has happily killed +him already. So, now, I will away and see what can be done about this +hunt. My object in coming was to get my men, and to warn those left in +charge of the town to keep a keen look-out for Addedomar, for he is a +dangerous foe. Farewell, mother." + +The woman was not addicted to the melting mood. She merely nodded as +her son went out. + +In pursuance of this plan, a band of about two hundred warriors was +raised, armed, and provisioned for a long journey. Gunrig put himself +at the head of a hundred and fifty of these, and Dromas, being a skilled +warrior, was given command of the remaining fifty, with Captain Arkal, +who begged to be allowed to go as his lieutenant, and little Maikar as +one of his fighting men. + +The orders were, that they should start off in the direction of the Hot +Swamp, searching the country as they went, making diligent inquiries at +the few villages they might pass, and questioning all travellers whom +they might chance to meet with by the way. If Branwen should be found, +she was to be sent back escorted by a detachment of a hundred men. If +the retreat of Bladud should be discovered, news of the fact was to be +sent to the king, and the prince was to be left there in peace with any +of the men who might volunteer to live with him. But on no account were +they or Bladud to return to Hudibras' town as long as there was the +least danger of infection. + +"Is he _never_ to return?" asked the queen, whimpering, when she heard +these orders given. + +"No, _never_!" answered the king in that awful tone which the poor queen +knew too well meant something like a decree of Fate. + +"Oh, father!" remonstrated Hafrydda--and Dromas loved her for the +remonstrance--"not even if he is cured?" + +"Well, of course, if he is cured, my child, that alters the case. But +how am I to know that he is cured?--who is to judge? Our court doctor +knows as much about it as a sucking pig--perhaps less!" + +"Perhaps the Hebrew knows," suggested Hafrydda--and Dromas loved her for +the suggestion! + +"Ah, to be sure! I forgot the Hebrew. You may call at his hut in +passing and take him with you, if he has come home yet. He's an amiable +old man, and may consent to go. If not--make him. Away! and cease to +worry me. That's the way to get rid of business, my queen; isn't it?" + +"Certainly--it is one way," answered the queen, turning to the two +commanders. "Go, and my blessing go with you!" + +"Success attend you!" murmured the princess, glancing timidly at +Dromas--and as Dromas gazed upon her fair face, and golden curls, and +modest mien, he felt that he loved her for herself! + +Success did not, however, attend them at first, for on reaching the +Hebrew's hut they found it empty, and no amount of shouting availed to +call Beniah from the "vasty deep" of the chasm, or the dark recesses of +the secret chamber. + +Pursuing their way, therefore, the small army was soon lost to view in +the forest. + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +CROSS PURPOSES AND COMPLICATIONS. + +We turn now to another scene in the wild-woods, not far distant from the +Hot Swamp. + +It is a thickly-wooded hollow on the eastern slopes of the high ridge +that bounds one side of the valley of the Springs. Sturdy oaks, tall +poplars, lordly elms and beeches, cast a deep shade over the spot which +was rendered almost impenetrable by dense underwood. Even in brightest +sunshine light entered it with difficulty, and in gloomy weather a sort +of twilight constantly prevailed, while at night the place became the +very abode of thick darkness. + +In this retreat was assembled, one gloomy afternoon, a large body of +armed men, not connected with the searching parties which had been +ransacking the region in the vain duplex search which we have tried to +describe. It was a war-party under the command of Addedomar the +outlaw--if we may thus characterise a man in a land where there was +little or no law of any kind, save that of might. + +It was a strong band, numbering nearly four hundred warriors, all of +whom were animated with the supposed-to-be noble desire to commit theft +on a very large scale. It is true, they called it "conquest," which +word in those days, as in modern times even among civilised people, +meant killing many of the natives of a place and taking possession of +their lands. Then--as now--this was sometimes styled "right of +conquest," and many people thought then, as some think even now, that by +putting this word "right" before "conquest" they made it all right! and +had somehow succeeded in abrogating the laws, "Thou shalt not steal," +and "Do to others as thou wouldest have others do to thee," laws which +were written by God in the human understanding long before Moses +descended with the decalogue from Sinai. + +However, as we have said, there was little or no law in the land of old +Albion at the time of which we write, so that we can scarcely wonder at +the aspirations of the band under Addedomar--aspirations which were to +the full as strong--perhaps even as noble--as those of Alexander the +Great or the first Napoleon. + +It had been ascertained by some stray hunter of Addedomar's party that +considerable bands of men were ranging the valley of the Springs and its +neighbourhood in search of something or some one, and that they went +about usually in small detached parties. The stray hunter, with an eye, +doubtless, to his personal interest, conveyed the news to the robber +chief, who, having made secret and extensive preparations, happened at +the time to be on his way to raid the territories of King Hudibras, +intending to take the town of Gunrig as a piece of by-play in passing. + +Here, however, was an opportunity of striking a splendid blow without +travelling so far. By keeping his force united, and sending a number of +scouts in advance, he could attack and overwhelm the scattered +detachments in succession. He, therefore, in the meantime, abandoned +his original plan, and turned aside to the neighbourhood of the Hot +Swamp. There he remained in the sequestered hollow, which has been +described, awaiting the return of his scouts. There was no difficulty +in feeding an army in those days, for the forests of Albion abounded +with game, and the silent bow, unlike the noisy fire-arm, could be used +effectively without betraying the presence of the hunter. + +The eyes of Addedomar opened wider and wider as his scouts dropped in +one by one, and his heart beat high with glee and hope at the news they +brought, for it opened up a speedy conquest in detail of more foes than +he had counted on meeting with, and left the prospect of his afterwards +carrying into execution his original plan. + +The first scout brought the intelligence that it was not the men of King +Hudibras who were in the neighbourhood, but those of Gadarn, the great +chief of the far north, who had come there with an armed force in search +of his daughter--she having gone lost, stolen, or strayed in the +wilderness. + +"Is the band a large one?" demanded Addedomar. + +"It is; but not so large as ours, and it is weakened every day by being +sent into the woods in different directions and in three detachments." + +"Excellent! Ha! we will join Gadarn in this search, not only for his +daughter, but for himself, and we will double the number of his +detachments when we meet them, by slicing each man in two." + +A loud laugh greeted this pleasantry, for robbers were easily tickled in +those days. + +"I also discovered," continued the scout, "that there is search being +made at the same time for some boy or lad, who seems to have +disappeared, or run away, or been caught by robbers." + +Again there was a laugh at the idea that there were other robbers about +besides themselves, but the chief checked them. + +"Did you find out anything else about this lad?" he asked. + +"Only that he seemed from his dress to be a hunter." + +Addedomar frowned and looked at the ground for some moments in +meditation. + +"I'm convinced," he said at last, "that this lad is none other than the +girl who escaped in the hunting dress of my young brother, just the day +before I returned to camp. Mother was not as careful as she might have +been at that time, and lost me a pretty wife. Good! Things are turning +out well to-day. We will rout Gadarn, find his daughter and this +so-called lad, and then I shall have two wives instead of one." + +The robber chief had just come to this satisfactory conclusion, when +another scout arrived. + +"How now, varlet? Do you bring good news?" + +"That depends on what you consider good," answered the scout, panting. +"I have just learned that a large body of King Hudibras' men--about two +hundred, I believe--is on its way to the Swamp to search for his son +Bladud--" + +"What! the giant whom we have heard tell of--who gave Gunrig such a +drubbing?" + +"The same. It seems that he has been smitten with leprosy, has been +banished from court, and has taken up his abode somewhere near the +Swamp." + +"But if he has been banished, why do they send out to search for him, I +wonder?" said the robber chief. + +"It is said," returned the scout, "that a friend of Bladud from the far +East wants to find him." + +"Good! This is rare good luck. We, too, will search for Bladud and +slay him. It is not every day that a man has the chance to kill a giant +with leprosy, and a king's son into the bargain." + +"I also learned," continued the scout, "that some lady of the court has +fled, and the army is to search of her too." + +"What! more women? Why, it seems as if these woods here must be +swarming with them. I should not wonder, too, if it was Hudibras' own +daughter that has run away. Not unlikely, for the king is well known to +be a tyrannical old fellow. H'm! we will search for her also. If we +find them all, I shall have more than enough of wives--the king's +daughter, and Gadarn's daughter, and this run-away-lad, whoever she may +be! Learned you anything more?" + +"Nothing more, except that Gadarn intends to make an early start +to-morrow morning." + +"It is well. We, also, will make an early--an even earlier--start +to-morrow morning. To your food, now, my men, and then--to rest!" + +While the robber chief was thus conversing with his scouts, two men were +advancing through the forest, one of whom was destined to interfere with +the plans which were so well conceived by Addedomar. These were our +friends Arkal and Maikar. + +Filled with a sort of wild romance, which neither the waves of the sea +nor the dangers of the land could abate, these two shipmates marched +through the woods all unconscious, of course, of the important part they +were destined to play in that era of the world's history. The two +sailors were alone, having obtained leave to range right and left in +advance of the column to which they were attached, for the purpose of +hunting. + +"We are not much to boast of in the way of shooting," remarked Arkal; +"but the troops don't know that, and good luck may prevent them finding +it out." + +"Just so," returned Maikar, "good luck may also bring us within +arrow-shot of a wolf. I have set my heart on taking home a wolf-skin to +that little woman with the black eyes that I've spoken to you about +sometimes." + +"Quite right, young man," said the captain, in an approving tone. +"Nothing pleases folk so much as to find that they have been remembered +by you when far away. Moreover, I think you stand a good chance, for I +saw two wolves the other day when I was rambling about, but they were +out of range." + +Chance or luck--whichever it was--did not bring a wolf within range that +day, but it brought what was more important and dangerous--namely, a +large brown bear. The animal was seated under a willow tree, with its +head on one side as if in meditation, when the men came upon it. An +intervening cliff had prevented the bear from hearing the footsteps of +the men, and both parties, being taken by surprise, stared at each other +for a moment in silence. + +No word was spoken, but next instant the bear ran at them, and stood up +on its hind legs, according to bear-nature, to attack. At the same +moment both men discharged arrows at it with all their force. One arrow +stuck in the animal's throat, the other in his chest. But bears are +proverbially hard to kill, and no vital part had been reached. Dropping +their bows, the men turned and made for the nearest trees. They +separated in doing so, and the bear lost a moment or two in making up +its mind which to follow. Fortunately it decided in favour of Maikar. +Had it followed Arkal, it would have caught him, for the captain, not +being as agile as might be wished, missed his first spring up his tree, +and slid back to the bottom. + +Maikar, on the other hand, went up like a squirrel. Now, the little +seaman had been told that some kinds of bears can climb while others +cannot. Remembering the fact, he glanced anxiously down, as he went up. +To his horror he saw that this bear could climb! and that his only +chance would be to climb so high, that the branches which would bear his +weight would not support the bear. It was a forlorn hope, but he +resolved to try it. + +Arkal, in the meantime, had recovered breath and self-possession. +Seeing the danger of his comrade, he boldly dropped to the ground, +picked up his bow, ran under the other tree, and sent an arrow deep into +the bear's flank. With a savage growl, the animal looked round, saw the +captain getting ready a second arrow, and immediately began to descend. +This rather disconcerted Arkal, who discharged his arrow hastily and +missed. + +Dropping his bow a second time he ran for dear life to his own tree and +scrambled up. But he need not have been in such haste, for although +some bears can ascend trees easily, they are clumsy and slow in +descending. Consequently the captain was high up before his enemy began +to climb. That was of little advantage, however, for in a few moments +the bear would have been up with him, had not Maikar, moved by the +consideration no doubt, that one good turn deserves another, dropped +quickly to the ground, picked up his bow and repeated the captain's +operation, with even more telling effect, for his arrow made the bear so +furious, that he turned round to bite it. In doing so he lost his hold, +and fell to the ground with such a thud, that he drove the arrow further +into him, and a vicious squeal out of him. + +At this point little Maikar resolved to vary the plan of action. He +stood his ground manfully, and, when the bear arose with a somewhat +confused expression, he planted another arrow up to the feathers in its +chest. Still the creature was unsubdued. It made a rush, but the +sailor sprang lightly behind a tree, getting ready an arrow as he did +so. When the animal rushed at him again, it received the shaft deep in +the left shoulder, so that, with blood pouring from its many wounds, it +stumbled and fell at its next rush. + +Seeing how things were going, you may be sure that Arkal did not remain +an idle spectator. He dropped again from the outer end of the bough he +had reached, and when the bear rose once more to its feet, it found a +foe on either side of it. + +"Don't shoot together," panted Maikar, for all this violent action was +beginning to tell on him. "Do you shoot first." + +This was said while the bear was in a state of indecision. + +The captain obeyed and put another arrow in its neck. The bear turned +savagely on him, thus exposing its side to Maikar, who took swift +advantage of the chance, and, sending an arrow straight to its heart, +turned it over dead! + +It must be remarked here, that all this shooting was done at such close +range that, although the two seamen were, as we have said, rather poor +shots, they had little difficulty in hitting so large an object. + +"Now, then, out with your knife and off with the claws for the little +woman at home with the black eyes," said Arkal, wiping the perspiration +from his brow, "and be quick about it, so as to have it done before the +troops come up." + +The little man was not long in accomplishing the job, and he had just +put the claws in his pouch, and was standing up to wipe his knife, when +the captain suddenly grasped his arm and drew him behind the trunk of a +tree, from which point of vantage he cautiously gazed with an anxious +expression and a dark frown. + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +ENEMIES, FRIENDS, SCOUTS, SKIRMISHES, AND COUNCILS OF WAR. + +Arkal's attention had been arrested by the figure of a man who suddenly +appeared from behind a cliff not four hundred yards distant from the +scene of their recent exploit. The stealthy manner in which the man +moved among the bushes, and the earnest gaze which he directed from time +to time in one particular direction, showed clearly that he was watching +the movements of something--it might be a deer or an enemy. + +"Evidently he has not seen us," whispered Maikar. + +"Clear enough that, for he is not looking this way," returned Arkal. +"He presents his back to us in a careless way, which he would hardly do +if he knew that two crack bowmen were a hundred yards astern of him." + +"Shall I shoot him?" whispered Maikar, preparing his weapons. + +"He may be a friend," returned the captain. "But, see! yonder comes +what interests him so much. Look!" + +He pointed to a distant ridge, over the brow of which the head of +Gunrig's column of men was just appearing. + +"He is a scout!" exclaimed Maikar. + +"Ay, and you may be sure that an enemy is not far off ahead of our +column--unless, perchance, he may be the scout of some tribe friendly to +the king. Hold your hand, Maikar. You are ever too ready to fight. +Listen, now; yonder is a convenient hollow where I may get into the +thick wood unseen by this scout, and run back to warn our friends. +Ahead, yonder, is a narrow pass which leads, no doubt, into the next +valley. Run you, as fast as your legs can wag, get through that pass, +and see what you can see. In the nature of things the scout is almost +sure to return through it, if he intends to carry the news of our +approach to his people, who are probably there. You must hide and do +the best you can to prevent him from doing this--either by killing him +or knocking him down. Be off, we have no time to lose." + +"But how if he should be a friend?" asked Maikar with a smile. "How am +I to find out?" + +Arkal paused and was perplexed. + +"You must just exercise your wisdom," he replied. "If the fellow has an +ill-looking countenance, kill him. If he looks a sensible sort of man, +stretch him out somehow. I would offer to go instead of you, being more +of a match for him, but I could not match his legs or yours, so it might +well chance that he would reach the pass before me." + +"Pooh, captain," retorted Maikar, with a look of scorn. "Ye think too +much of yourself, and are unwarrantably puffed up about the advantage of +size." + +Without a reply--save a grin--Arkal turned, and, jumping into the +bushes, was immediately out of sight. His comrade, before starting off +to carry out his part of the programme, took a good look at the scout +whom he was bound to circumvent. + +He was evidently a tall, powerful man, armed with a bow, a short sword, +and a stout staff somewhat longer than himself. That he was also a +brave and cool man seemed probable, from the fact that, instead of +hurrying off hastily to warn his friends that troops were in sight, he +stood calmly leaning on his staff as if for the purpose of ascertaining +the exact number of the strangers before reporting them. + +He was still engaged in this inspection when Maikar started off and fled +on the wings of hope and excitement toward the pass. Arrived there, his +first glance revealed to him the troops of Addedomar busy with their +evening meal in the valley below. + +"The question is, are they friends or foes?" thought the little seaman. +"H'm! it's an awkward thing for a poor fellow not to be quite sure +whether to prepare for calms or squalls. Such a misfortune never could +befall one at sea. Well, I must just take them to be foes till they +prove themselves to be friends. And this scout, what in the world am I +to do about _him_? I have no heart to hide in the bushes and shoot him +dead as he passes." + +The little man had probably forgotten his readiness to shoot the scout +in the back only a few minutes before--but is not mankind at large prone +to inconsistency at times? + +"I know what I'll do," he muttered, pursuing his thoughts, and nodding +his head, as he stepped aside into the shrubbery that clothed the slopes +of the pass. + +Cutting down a suitable branch from a tree, he quickly stripped off the +smaller branches and reduced it to a staff about six feet in length. +Then, hiding himself behind a part of the cliff which abutted close on +the footpath that had been worn through the pass by men and wild +animals, he laid his bow and quiver at his feet and awaited the coming +of the scout. + +He had not to wait long, for that worthy, having ascertained the size of +the invading band, came down the pass at a swinging trot. Just as he +passed the jutting rock his practised eye caught sight of Maikar in time +to avoid the blow of the pole or staff, which was aimed at his head, but +not to escape the dig in the ribs with which the little man followed it +up. + +Instantly the scout's right hand flew to his quiver, but before he could +fix an arrow another blow from the staff broke the bow in his left hand. + +Blazing with astonishment and wrath at such rough treatment from so +small a man, he stepped back, drew his sword and glared at his opponent. + +Maikar also stepped back a pace or two and held up his hand as if for a +truce. + +"I too have a sword," he said, pointing to the weapon, "and can use it, +but I have no desire to slay you till I know whether you are friend or +foe." + +"Slay me! thou insignificant rat!" cried the scout in savage fury. +"Even if we were friends I would have to pay thee for that dig in the +ribs and the broken bow. But I scorn to take advantage of such a +squirrel. Have at thee with my staff!" + +Running at him as he spoke, the scout delivered a blow that would have +acted like the hammer of Thor had it taken effect, but the seaman deftly +dipped his head and the blow fell on a neighbouring birch, and a foot or +so of the staff snapped off. What remained, however, was still a +formidable weapon, but before the scout could use it he received another +dig in the ribs which called forth a yell of indignation rather than of +pain. + +The appropriateness of the name squirrel now became apparent, for Maikar +even excelled that agile creature in the rapidity with which he waltzed +round the sturdy scout and delivered his stinging little blows. To do +the scout justice, he played his part like a brave and active warrior, +so that it seemed to rain blows and digs in all directions, and, once or +twice, as by a miracle, Maikar escaped what threatened to be little, if +at all, short of extermination. As in running, so in fighting, it is +the pace that kills. After five minutes or so both combatants were +winded. They separated, as if by mutual consent, and, leaning on their +staves, panted vehemently. + +Then at it they went again. + +"Thou little scrap of a pig's snout, come on," shouted the scout in huge +disdain. + +"Thou big skinful of pride! look out!" cried Maikar, rendering the +adoption of his own advice impossible by thrusting the butt of his staff +against the scout's nose, and thereby filling his eyes with water. At +the next moment he rendered him still more helpless by bestowing a whack +on his crown which laid him flat on the footpath. + +A cheer behind him at that moment caused the little man to look round, +when he found that the head of Gunrig's column, led by Arkal, had come +up just in time to witness the final blow. + +They were still crowding round the fallen man, and asking hurried +questions about him, when a voice from the heights above hailed them. +Instantly a score or two of arrows were pointed in that direction. + +"Hold your hands, men!" shouted Gunrig. "I know that voice--ay, and the +face too. Is it not the white beard of our friend the Hebrew that I +see?" + +A few minutes more proved that he was right, for the well-known figure +of Beniah descended the sides of the pass. + +The news he brought proved to be both surprising and perplexing, for up +to that moment Gunrig had been utterly ignorant of the recent arrival of +Gadarn from the far north in search of his lost daughter, though of +course he was well aware of the various unsuccessful efforts that had +been made by King Hudibras in that direction. Moreover, he chanced to +be not on the best of terms with Gadarn just at that time. Then the +fact that Bladud had recovered his health and was actively engaged in +the search--not, indeed, so much for Branwen as for a youth named +Cormac--was also surprising as well as disagreeable news to Gunrig. + +"And who is this Cormac in whom the prince seems to be so interested?" +he asked. + +Here poor Beniah, held fast by his solemn promise, was compelled to give +an evasive answer. + +"All that I can tell about him," he replied, "is that he is a kind young +fellow to whose attention and nursing the prince thinks himself indebted +for his life. But had we not better question this young man?" he added, +turning to the scout. "I have heard rumours about robbers lurking +somewhere hereabouts--hence my coming out alone to scout the country +round, little dreaming that I should find the men of King Hudibras so +near." + +"If robbers are said to be hereabouts," broke in Maikar at this point, +"I can tell you where to find them, I think, for I saw a band of men in +the hollow just beyond this pass." + +"Say you so?" exclaimed Gunrig; "fetch the prisoner here." + +The scout, who had recovered his senses by that time, was led forward, +but doggedly refused to give any information. + +"Kindle a fire, men; we will roast him alive, and perhaps that will +teach him to speak." + +It was by no means unusual for men in those days to use torture for the +purpose of extracting information from obstinate prisoners. At first +the man maintained his resolution, but when he saw that his captors were +in earnest, and about to light the fire, his courage failed him. He +confessed that he was a scout, and that Addedomar was there with several +other well-known chiefs and a body of four hundred men. + +Thereupon the man was bound and put in the safe keeping of several men, +whose lives were to be forfeited if he should escape. Then Gunrig, +Dromas, Beniah, Arkal, Maikar, and several other chief men retired under +a tree to hold a council of war. Their deliberations resulted in the +following conclusions. + +First, that the number of warriors at their disposal, counting those of +King Hudibras and those under Gadarn, amounted to a sufficient force +wherewith to meet the invaders in open fight; second, that a junction +between their forces must be effected that night, for, according to +usual custom in such circumstances, the enemy would be pretty sure to +attack before daybreak in the morning; and, third, that what was to be +done must be set about as soon as darkness favoured their operations. + +"You can guide us in the dark, I suppose," said Gunrig, turning to +Beniah. + +"Ay, as well almost as in the light," replied the Hebrew. + +"Let the men feed, then, and be ready for the signal to start," said the +chief to his officers, "and see that no louder noise be heard than the +crunching of their jaws." + +The night was favourable to their enterprise. The moon was indeed +risen, but clouds entirely hid it, yet allowed a soft light to pass +through which rendered objects close at hand quite visible. Before +midnight they started on the march in profound silence, and, led by +Beniah, made a wide _detour_ which brought them to the encampment of +Gadarn. As may easily be understood, that chief was well pleased at the +turn events had taken, for, to say truth, his little joke of trotting +Beniah about the land and keeping him in perplexity, had begun to pall, +and he had for some days past been hunting about for a plausible excuse +for abandoning the search and going to visit King Hudibras. + +His difficulty in this matter was increased by his unwillingness to +reveal the true state of matters to Bladud, yet he knew that unless he +did so the prince would utterly refuse to abandon the search for Cormac. +Another thing that perplexed the chief greatly was--how the Hebrew, +knowing Branwen as he did, had failed to recognise her in the lad +Cormac, for of course he knew nothing of the promise that held the +Hebrew's lips tied; his daughter--who was as fond of a joke as himself-- +having taken care not to reveal _all_ the complications that had arisen +in regard to herself. + +The sudden appearance, therefore, of foes with whom he could fight +proved to be a sort of fortunate safety-valve, and, besides, he had the +comfort of thinking that he would fight in a good cause, for the region +of the Hot Swamp belonged to his friend Hudibras, and this robber +Addedomar was a notorious rascal who required extirpating, while the +chiefs who had joined him were little better. + +The council of war that was hastily called included Bladud, who was sent +for, being asleep in his own booth when the party arrived. The council +chamber was under an old oak tree. + +When Bladud came forward he was suddenly struck motionless and glared as +if he had seen a ghost. For the first time in his life he felt an +emotion of supernatural fear--for there, in the flesh apparently, stood +his friend Dromas. + +A smile from the latter reassured him. Leaping forward he seized his +friend's hand, but the impulsive Greek was not to be put off thus. He +threw an arm round the prince's neck and kissed his cheek. + +"Dromas!" cried Bladud, "can it be? Am I dreaming?" + +"This is all very well," interrupted the impatient Gadarn, "and I have +no doubt you are excellent friends though somewhat demonstrative, but we +are holding a council of war--not of affection--and as the enemy may be +close at hand it behoves us to be smart. Shake hands, Gunrig; you and I +must be friends when we fight on the same side. Now, let us to work. +Who is to have the chief command?" + +By universal desire the council appointed Gadarn. + +"Well, then," said the commander-in-chief, "this is my view: Addedomar +will come expecting to find us all asleep. He will find us all very +wide awake. There is a slope in front of this camp leading down to the +Swamp. At the bottom is a nice level piece of flat land, bordering on +the Swamp, that seems just made for a battlefield. We will drive him +and his men down the slope on to that flat, from which, after giving +them the toothache, we will drive them into the Swamp, and as close up +to the spring-head as we can, so that they may be half boiled alive, if +possible. Those who escape the Swamp will find men ambushed on the +other side who will drive them into the river. Those who escape the +river may go home and take my blessing along with them." + +"Then do you intend to divide our troops into two bodies?" asked Bladud. + +"Of course I do. We can't have an ambush without dividing, can we?" + +"Division means weakness," observed Gunrig. + +"You were ever obstinate, Gunrig," said Gadarn, sharply. + +"Division sometimes means strength," said Dromas in a conciliatory tone, +for he was anxious at least to prevent division in the council. "As +Addedomar is ignorant of the strength of our force, his being attacked +unexpectedly, and in the dark, by two or three bands at once, from +different quarters, will do much to demoralise his men and throw them +into confusion." + +"Right, my young friend," rejoined Gadarn; "though you do speak in the +tones of one who has been born under other stars, there is sense in your +head. That is the very thing I mean to do. We will divide into four +bands. I will keep the biggest at the camp to drive them down the slope +and begin the fight. Prince Bladud will take one detachment round +through the woods to the river and fall upon them from that side. +Gunrig, who I know loves the post of danger, will go down between the +two mounds and meet the enemy right in the teeth when they are being +driven out upon the flat land, and Dromas, as he seems to be a knowing +man, might take the ambush on the other side of the Swamp." + +"Nay, if I may choose, I would rather fight under my friend Bladud." + +"Be it so. Settle that among yourselves. Only I must have Konar with +me, for he knows the Swamp well and can roar splendidly. All the enemy +below a certain point of courage will turn and split off when they hear +his yell. I'm going to make him keep it for them as a little treat at +the last. The Hebrew will also keep by me. Now marshal your men and +take them off at once. We shan't have to wait long, for Addedomar is an +active villain." + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +THE BATTLE OF THE SPRINGS. + +Gadarn was right. The robber chief was very early astir that morning, +and marched with his host so silently through the forest, that the very +birds on the boughs gave them, as they passed underneath, but a sleepy +wink of one eye and thrust their beaks again under their wings. + +Not knowing the country thoroughly, however, Addedomar met some slight +obstructions, which, necessitating occasional detours from the straight +path, delayed him a little, so that it was very near dawn when he +reached the neighbourhood of Gadarn's camp. Hesitation in the +circumstances he knew would be ruinous; he therefore neglected the +precaution of feeling his way by sending scouts in advance, and made +straight for the enemy's camp. Scouts previously sent out had +ascertained its exact position, so that he had no doubt of effecting a +complete surprise. + +Many noted battles have been fought and described in this world, but +few, if any, we should think, will compare with the famous battle of the +Springs in the completeness of the victory. + +Coming out upon the flat which Gadarn had determined should be the +battle-field, and to the left of which the hot springs that caused the +swamp were flowing, Addedomar marshalled his men for the final assault. +Before reaching the flat they had passed almost within bow-shot of the +spot where Gunrig and his men lay in ambush, and that chief might easily +have fallen upon and killed many of them, had he not been restrained by +the strict orders of Gadarn to let them pass on to the camp unmolested. +It is true Gunrig found it very hard to hold his hand, but as Gadarn had +been constituted commander-in-chief without a dissentient voice, in +virtue of his superior intelligence and indomitable resolution, he felt +bound to obey. + +Bladud and his friend Dromas, with their contingent, being at the lower +end of the flat and far out of bow-shot, were not thus tempted to +disobey orders. The ambuscade on the other side of the Swamp had been +put under the command of Captain Arkal, with Maikar for his lieutenant. +Being entirely ignorant of what was going on, the men of this contingent +lay close, abiding their time. + +Inaction, during the development of some critical manoeuvre, while +awaiting the signal to be up and doing, is hard to bear. Arkal and his +men whiled away the time in whispered conversations, which related more +or less to the part they were expected to play. + +"If any of the robbers reach this side of the swamp alive," remarked +Arkal, "there will be no need to kill them." + +"What then? would you let them escape?" asked Maikar in surprise. + +"Not on this side of the river," returned the captain. "But we might +drive them into it, and as it is in roaring flood just now, most of them +will probably be drowned. The few who escape will do us service by +telling the tale of their defeat to their friends." + +He ceased to whisper, for just then the dawning light showed them the +dusky forms of the enemy stealing noiselessly but swiftly over the flat. + +At their head strode Addedomar and a few of his stoutest men. Reaching +the slope that led to the camp the four hundred men rushed up, still, +however, in perfect silence, expecting to take their victims by +surprise. But before they gained the summit a body of men burst out +from the woods on either side of the track, and leaped upon them with a +prolonged roar that must have been the rudimentary form of a British +cheer. + +The effect on the robbers was tremendous. On beholding the huge forms +of Gadarn, Konar, and Beniah coming on in front they turned and fled +like autumn leaves before a gale, without waiting even to discharge a +single arrow. The courageous Addedomar was overwhelmed by the panic and +carried away in the rush. Gadarn, supposing that the attack would have +been made earlier and in the dark, had left the bows of his force +behind, intending to depend entirely on swords and clubs. But he found +that the robbers were swift of foot and that terror lent wings, for they +did not overtake them at once. Down the slope went the robbers, and +down went the roaring northmen, until both parties swept out upon the +flat below. + +They did not scatter, however. Addedomar's men had been trained to keep +together even in flight, and they now made for the gully between the +mounds, their chief intending to face about there and show fight on the +slopes of the pass. But the flying host had barely entered it, when +they were assaulted and driven back by the forces under Gunrig, who went +at them with a shout that told of previous severe restraint. The +fugitives could not stand it. The arrows, which even during flight were +being got ready for Gadarn's host, were suddenly discharged at the men +in the gully; but the aim was wild, and the only shaft which took +serious effect found its billet in the breast of Gunrig himself. He +plucked it savagely out and continued the charge at the head of his men. + +Turning sharp to the left, the robbers then made for the lower end of +the flat, still followed closely by Gadarn's band, now swelled by that +of Gunrig. As had been anticipated, they almost ran into the arms of +Bladud's contingent, which met them with a yell of rage, and the yell +was answered by a shriek of terror. + +Their retreat being thus cut off in nearly all directions, the +panic-stricken crew doubled to the left again, and sprang into the +swamp, closely followed by their ever-increasing foes. At first and at +some distance from the fountain-head the water felt warm and grateful to +the lower limbs of the fugitives, but as they plunged in deeper and +nearer to the springs, it became uncomfortably hot, and they began to +scatter all over the place, in the hope of finding cool water. Some who +knew the locality were successful. Others, who did not know it, rushed +from hot to hotter, while some, who were blindly struggling toward the +source of the evil, at last began to yell with pain, and no wonder, for +the temperature of the springs then--as it has been ever since, and is +at the present day--was 120 degrees of Fahrenheit--a degree of heat, in +water, which man is not fitted to bear with equanimity. + +"Now, Konar, give them a tune from _your_ pipe," said Gadarn, whose eyes +were blazing with excitement. + +The hunter of the Swamp obeyed, and it seemed as though a mammoth bull +of Bashan had been suddenly let loose on the fugitives. + +To add to the turmoil a large herd of Bladud's pigs, disturbed from +their lair, were driven into the hot water, where they swam about in a +frantic state, filling the whole region with horrid yells, which, +mingling with those of the human sufferers, and the incessant barking of +Brownie, rendered confusion worse confounded, and caused the wild +animals far and near to flee from the region as if it had become +Pandemonium! + +The pigs, however, unlike the men, knew how to find the cooler parts of +the swamp. + +Perceiving his error when he stood knee-deep in the swamp, Gadarn now +sought to rectify it by sending a detachment of swift runners back for +his bows and arrows. But this manoeuvre took time, and before it could +be carried out the half-boiled host had gained the other side of the +Swamp, and were massing themselves together preparatory to a retreat +into the thick woods. + +"Now is _our_ time," said Arkal, rising up and drawing his sword. Then, +with a nautical shout, and almost in the words of a late warrior of +note, he cried, "Up, men, and at them!" + +And the men obeyed with such alacrity and such inconceivable violence, +that the stricken enemy did not await the onset. They incontinently +sloped at an angle of forty-five degrees with mother earth, and scooted +towards the river, into which they all plunged without a moment's +consideration. + +Arkal and his men paused on the brink to watch the result; but the +seaman was wrong about the probable fate of the vanquished, for every +man of the robber band could swim like an otter, besides being in a fit +condition to enjoy the cooler stream. They all reached the opposite +bank in safety. Scrambling out, they took to the woods without once +looking back, and finally disappeared. + +During the remainder of that day Gadarn could do little else than +chuckle or laugh. + +Bladud's comment was that it had been "most successful." + +"A bloodless victory!" remarked Beniah. + +"And didn't they yell?" said Arkal. + +"And splutter?" added Maikar. + +"And the pigs! oh! the pigs!" cried Gadarn, going off into another +explosion which brought the tears to his eyes, "it would have been +nothing without the pigs!" + +The gentle reader must make allowance for the feelings of men fresh from +the excitement of such a scene, existing as they did in times so very +remote. But, after all, when we take into consideration the +circumstances; the nature of the weapons used; the cause of the war, and +the objects gained, and compare it all with the circumstances, weapons, +causes, and objects of modern warfare, we are constrained to admit that +it was a "most glorious victory"--this Battle of the Springs. + +CHAPTER THIRTY. + +SMALL BEGINNINGS OF FUTURE GREAT THINGS. + +There was one thing, however, which threw a cloud over the rejoicing +with which the conquerors hailed this memorable victory. + +Gunrig's wound turned out to be a very severe one--much more so than had +been at first supposed--for the arrow had penetrated one of his lungs, +and, breaking off, had left the head in it. + +As Bladud was the only one of the host who possessed any knowledge of +how to treat complicated wounds, he was "called in," much against the +wish of the wounded man; but when the prince had seen and spoken to him, +in his peculiarly soft voice, and with his gentle manner, besides +affording him considerable relief, the chief became reconciled to his +new doctor. + +"I thought you a savage monster," said the invalid, on the occasion of +the amateur doctor's third visit; "but I find you to be almost as tender +as a woman. Yet your hand was heavy enough when it felled me at the +games!" + +"Let not your mind dwell on that, Gunrig; and, truth to tell, if it had +not been for that lucky--or, if you choose, unlucky--blow, I might have +found you more than my match." + +The chief held out his hand, which the doctor grasped. + +"I thought to kill you, Bladud; but when I get well, we shall be +friends." + +Poor Gunrig, however, did not from that day show much evidence of +getting well. His case was far beyond the skill of his amateur doctor. +It was, therefore, resolved, a day or two later, to send him home under +an escort led by Beniah. + +"I will follow you ere long," said Gadarn, as he grasped the hand of the +invalid at parting, "for I have business at the court of King Hudibras." + +Gunrig raised himself in the litter in which he was borne by four men, +and looked the northern chief earnestly in the face. + +"You have not yet found your daughter?" he asked. + +"Well--no. At least not exactly." + +"Not exactly!" repeated Gunrig in surprise. + +"No; not exactly. That's all I can say at present. All ready in front +there? Move on! My greetings to the king, and say I shall see him +soon. What, ho! Konar, come hither! Know you where I can find Prince +Bladud?" + +"In his booth," replied the hunter. + +"Send him to me. I would have speech with him." + +When the prince entered the booth of the commander-in-chief, he found +that worthy with his hands on his sides, a tear or two in his eyes, and +very red in the face. He frowned suddenly, however, and became very +grave on observing Bladud. + +"I sent for you," he said, "to let you know my intended movements, and +to ask what you mean to do. To-morrow I shall start for your father's +town with all my men." + +"What! and leave your daughter undiscovered?" + +"Ay. Of what use is it to search any longer? There is not a hole or +corner of the land that we have not ransacked. I am certain that she is +not here, wherever she may be; so I must go and seek elsewhere. Wilt go +with me?" + +"That will not I," returned Bladud decisively. + +"Wherefore? The Hebrew tells me you are cured; and your father will be +glad to have you back." + +"It matters not. I leave not this region until I have made a more +thorough search for and found the lad Cormac, or at least ascertained +his fate." + +"Why so anxious about the boy? is he of kin to you?" said Gadarn in a +tone that seemed to convey the slightest possible evidence of contempt. + +"Ay, he is of kin," returned Bladud, warmly; "for it seems to me +sometimes that friendship is a closer tie than blood. At all events, I +owe my life to him. Moreover, if he has been captured by robbers, I +feel assured that he will escape before long and return to me." + +"Indeed! Are you, then, so sure of his affection? Has he ever dared to +say that he--he is fond of you?" + +"Truly, he never has; for we men of the southern parts of Albion are not +prone to speak of our feelings, whatever you of the north may be. But +surely you must know, chief, that the eyes, the tones, and the actions, +have a language of their own which one can well understand though the +tongue be silent. Besides, I do not see it to be a very daring act for +one man to tell another that he is fond of him. And you would not +wonder at my regard, if you only knew what a pure-minded, noble fellow +this Cormac is,--so thoughtful, so self-sacrificing, for, you know, it +must have cost him--it would cost any one--a terrible effort of +self-denial to dwell in such a solitude as this for the sole purpose of +nursing a stranger, and that stranger a doomed leper, as I thought at +first, though God has seen fit to restore me." + +"Nevertheless, I counsel you to come with me, prince, for I have no +intention of giving up the search for my child, though I mean to carry +it on in a more likely region; and who knows but we may find Cormac-- +ha!" (here there was a peculiar catch in Gadarn's throat which he +sought to conceal with a violent sneeze)--"ha! find Cormac in the same +region!" + +"That is not likely. I see no reason why two people who were lost at +different times, and not, as far as we know, in exactly the same place, +should be found"--(here the chief had another fit of sneezing)--"be +found together. At any rate, I remain here, for a time at least. My +old friend Dromas will remain with me, and some of my father's men." + +As Gadarn could not induce the prince to alter his decision, and, for +reasons of his own, did not choose to enlighten him, they parted there-- +the chief setting off with his troops in the direction of Hudibras' +town, and the prince returning to his booth, accompanied by Captain +Arkal, little Maikar, the hunter of the Hot Swamp, and about thirty of +his father's men, who had elected to stay with him. + +"As I am now cured, good Konar," said Bladud to the hunter, while +returning to the booth, "and as I have enough to do in searching for my +lost friend, I fear that I must end my service with you, and make over +the pigs to some other herd." + +"As you please, prince," returned the eccentric hunter with the utmost +coolness, "the pigs were well able to look after themselves before you +came, and, doubtless, they will be not less able after you go." + +Bladud laughed, and, putting his hand kindly on the man's shoulder, +assured him that he would find for him a good successor to herd his +pigs. He also asked him if he would agree to act as hunter to his +party, as he intended to remain in that region and build a small town +beside the springs, so that people afflicted with the disease from which +he had suffered, or any similar disease, might come and be cured. + +Konar agreed at once, for a new light burst upon him, and the idea of +living to serve other people, and not merely to feed himself, seemed to +put new life into him. + +"Do you really mean to build a town here?" asked Dromas, when he heard +his friend giving orders to his men to erect a large booth to shelter +them all for some time to come. + +"Indeed, I do. So thankful am I, Dromas, for this cure, that I feel +impelled to induce others to come and share the blessing. I only wish I +could hope that you would stay in Albion and aid me. But I suppose +there is some fair one in Hellas who might object to that." + +"No fair one that I know of," returned Dromas, with a laugh, "and as I +have left neither kith nor kin at home, there is nothing to prevent my +taking the proposal into consideration." + +"That is good news indeed. So, then, I will ask you to come along with +me just now, and mayhap you will make up your mind while we walk. I go +to fix on a site for the new town, and to set the men to work." + +That day the voices of toilers, and the sound of hatchets and the crash +of falling trees, were heard in the neighbourhood of the Hot Swamp, +while the prince and his friend examined the localities around in the +immediate vicinity of the fountain-head. + +On coming to the fountain itself, the young men paused to look at it, as +it welled up from the earth. So hot was it that they could not endure +to hold their hands in it, and in such volumes did it rise, that it +overflowed its large natural basin continually, and converted a large +tract of ground into a morass, while finding its way, by many rills and +channels, into the adjacent river. + +"What a singular work of Nature!" remarked Dromas. + +"Why not say--a wonderful work of God?" replied the prince. + +"Come now, my friend, let us not begin again our old discussions. What +was suitable for the groves of Hellas is not appropriate to the swamps +of Albion!" + +"I agree not with that, Dromas." + +"You were ever ready to disagree, Bladud." + +"Nay, not exactly to disagree, but to argue. However, I will fall in +with your humour just now, and wait for what you may deem a more fitting +time. But what, think you, can be the cause of this extraordinary hot +spring?" + +"Fire!" returned the Greek promptly. + +"Truly that must be so," returned the prince, with a laugh. "You are +unusually sharp this morning, my friend. But what originates the fire, +and where is it, and why does it not set the whole world on fire, seeing +that it must needs be under the earth?" + +"It would be better to put such questions to the wise men of Egypt, next +time you have the chance, than to me," returned Dromas, "for I am not +deep enough in philosophy to answer you. Nevertheless, it does not seem +presumptuous to make a guess. That there is abundance of fire beneath +the ground on which we tread is clear from the burning mountains which +you and I have seen on our way from Hellas. Probably there are many +such mountains elsewhere, for if the fire did not find an escape in many +places, it would assuredly burst our world asunder. What set the inside +of the world on fire at the beginning is, of course, a puzzle; and why +everything does not catch fire and blaze up is another puzzle--for it is +plain that if you were to set fire to the inside of your booth, the +outside would be shrivelled up immediately. Then," continued Dromas, +knitting his brows and warming with his subject, "there must be a big +lake under the earth somewhere, and quite close to the fire, which sets +it a-boiling and makes it boil over--thus." + +He pointed to the fountain as he spoke. + +"There may be truth in what you say, Dromas. At all events your theory +is plausible, and this, I know, that ever since I came here, there has +not been the slightest diminution in the volume of hot water that has +poured forth; from which I would conclude that it has been flowing thus +from the beginning of time, and that it will go on flowing thus to the +end." + +We know not whether the reader will be inclined to class Bladud among +the prophets, but there are some prophets who have less claim to the +title, for it is a fact that in this year of grace, 1892, the output of +hot water from the same fountain, in the town of Bath, is one million +tons every year, while the quantity and the temperature never vary in +any appreciable degree, summer or winter, from year to year! + +Having discussed the philosophical aspect of the fountain, the two +friends proceeded with the work then in hand. + +Of course, as they gazed around at the richly wooded hills and +attractive eminences, which were not only charming sites for the little +town, but also well suited for fortresses to resist invasions they were +naturally tempted to sacrifice the useful to the safe and beautiful. +Fortunately wisdom prevailed, and it was that day decided that the site +for Swamptown should be on a slope that rose gently from the river bank, +passed close by the Hot Swamp, and was finally lost in the lovely +wood-clad terraces beyond. + +"We must, of course, confine the hot stream within banks, train it to +the river, and drain the Swamp," observed Bladud, as he sat brooding +over his plans that night at supper. + +"Ay, and make a pond for sick folk to dip in," said Dromas. + +"And another pond for the healthy folk," suggested Captain Arkal; "we +like to give ourselves a wash now and then, and it would never do for +the healthy to go spluttering about with the sick--would it?" + +"Certainly not," interposed little Maikar, "but what about the women? +They would need a pond for themselves, would they not? Assuredly they +would keep us all in hot water if they didn't have one." + +"I see," said Bladud, still in a meditative mood. "There would have to +be a succession of ponds alongside of the hot stream, with leads to let +the water in--" + +"And other leads to let the overflow out," suggested the practical +Arkal. + +"Just so. And booths around the ponds for people to dry themselves and +dress in. Ha!" exclaimed the prince, smiting his knee with his hand. +"I see a great thing in this--a thing that will benefit mankind as long +as disease shall afflict them--as long as the hot waters flow!" + +He looked round on his friends with an air of combined solemnity and +triumph. The solemnity without the triumph marked the faces of his +friends as they returned the look in profound silence, for they all +seemed to feel that the prince was in a state of exaltation, and that +something approaching to the nature of a prophecy had been uttered. + +For a few moments they continued to gaze at each other--then there was a +general sigh, as if a matter of great importance had been finally +settled, and the silence was at last broken by little Maikar solemnly +demanding another rib of roast-beef. + +CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. + +MORE PLOTS AND PLANS. + +Having laid the foundations of the new town, drawn out his plans and set +his men to work, Bladud appointed Captain Arkal superintendent, and set +out on his quest after his lost friend Cormac, taking Dromas and Maikar +along with him and four of the men--one of them being Konar the hunter. +Brownie was also an important member of the party, for his master hoped +much from his power of scent. + +Meanwhile Cormac--alias Branwen, _alias_ the little old woman--forsook +the refuge of the Hebrew's house, and, in her antique capacity, paid a +visit one afternoon to the palace of Hudibras. + +"Here comes that deaf old witch again," said the domestic who had +formerly threatened to set the dogs at her. + +"Yes," remarked the old woman when she came up to the door, "and the old +witch has got her hearing again, my sweet-faced young man--got it back +in a way, too, that, if you only heard how, would make your hair stand +on end, your eyes turn round, and the very marrow in your spine shrivel +up. Go and tell the princess I want to see her." + +"Oh!" replied the domestic with a faint effort at a sneer, for he was a +bold man, though slightly superstitious. + +"Oh!" echoed the old woman. "Yes, and tell her that if she keeps me +waiting I'll bring the black cloud of the Boong-jee-gop over the palace, +and that will bring you all to the condition of wishing that your +grandmothers had never been born. Young man--go!" + +This was too much for that domestic. The unheard-of horrors of the +Boong-jee-gop, coupled with the tremendous energy of the final "go!" was +more than he could stand. He went--meekly. + +"Send her to me directly," said Hafrydda, and the humiliated servitor +obeyed. + +"Dearest Branwen!" exclaimed the princess, throwing back the old woman's +shawl, straightening her up, and hugging her when they were alone, "how +long you have been coming! Where have you been? Why have you forsaken +me? And _I_ have such quantities of news to tell you--but, what has +become of your hair?" + +"I cut it short after I fell into the hands of robbers--" + +"Robbers!" exclaimed the princess. + +"Yes--I shall tell you all about my adventures presently--and you have +no idea what difficulty I had in cutting it, for the knife was so blunt +that I had to cut and pull at it a whole afternoon. But it had to be +done, for I meant to personate a boy--having stolen a boy's hunting +dress for that purpose. Wasn't it fun to rob the robbers? And then-- +and then--I found your brother--" + +"_You_ found Bladud?" + +"Yes, and--and--but I'll tell you all about that too presently. It is +enough to say that he is alive and well--sickness almost, if not quite, +gone. I _was_ so sorry for him." + +"Dear Branwen!" said the princess, with an emphatic oral demonstration. + +Hafrydda was so loving and tender and effusive, and, withal, so very +fair, that her friend could not help gazing at her in admiration. + +"No wonder I love him," said Branwen. + +"Why?" asked the princess, much amused at the straightforward gravity +with which this was said. + +"Because he is as like you as your own image in a brazen shield--only +far better-looking." + +"Indeed, your manners don't seem to have been improved by a life in the +woods, my Branwen." + +"Perhaps not. I never heard of the woods being useful for that end. +Ah, if you had gone through all that I have suffered--the--the--but what +news have you got to tell me?" + +"Well, first of all," replied the princess, with that comfortable, +interested manner which some delightful people assume when about to make +revelations, "sit down beside me and listen--and don't open your eyes +too wide at first else there will be no room for further expansion at +last." + +Hereupon the princess entered on a minute account of various doings at +the court, which, however interesting they were to Branwen, are not +worthy of being recorded here. Among other things, she told her of a +rumour that was going about to the effect that an old witch had been +seen occasionally in the neighbourhood of Beniah's residence, and that +all the people in the town were more or less afraid of going near the +place either by day or night on that account. + +Of course the girls had a hearty laugh over this. "Did they say what +the witch was like?" asked Branwen. + +"O yes. People have given various accounts of her--one being that she +is inhumanly ugly, that fire comes out of her coal-black eyes, and that +she has a long tail. But now I come to my most interesting piece of +news--that will surprise you most, I think--your father Gadarn is here!" + +Branwen received this piece of news with such quiet indifference that +her friend was not only disappointed but amazed. + +"My dear," she asked, "why do you not gasp, `My father!' and lift your +eyebrows to the roots of your hair?" + +"Because I know that he is here." + +"Know it!" + +"Yes--know it. I have seen him, as well as your brother, and father +knows that _I_ am here." + +"Oh! you deceiver! That accounts, then, for the mystery of his manner +and the strange way he has got of going about chuckling when there is +nothing funny being said or done--at least nothing that I can see!" + +"He's an old goose," remarked her friend. + +"Branwen," said the princess in a remonstrative tone, "is that the way +to speak of your own father?" + +"He's a dear old goose, then, if that will please you better--the very +nicest old goose that I ever had to do with. Did he mention Bladud to +you?" + +"Yes, he said he had seen him, and been helped by him in a fight they +seemed to have had at the Hot Swamp, but we could not gather much from +him as to the dear boy's state of health, or where he lived, or what he +meant to do. He told us, however, of a mysterious boy who had nursed +him in sickness, and who had somehow been lost or captured, and that +poor Bladud was so fond of the boy that he had remained behind to search +for him. I now know," added the princess with a laugh, "who this dear +boy is, but I am greatly puzzled still about some of his doings and +intentions." + +"Listen, then, Hafrydda, and I will tell you all." As we have already +told the reader all, we will not tell it over again, but leap at once to +that point where the princess asked, at the close of the narrative, what +her friend intended to do. + +"That," said Branwen with a perplexed look and a sigh, "is really more +than I can tell you at present. You see, there are some things that I +am sure of and some things that I am not quite so sure of, but that I +must find out somehow. For instance, I am quite sure that I love your +brother more than any man in the world. I am also quite sure that he is +the bravest, handsomest, strongest, best, and most unselfish man that +ever lived--much about the same as my father, except that, being +younger, he is handsomer, though I have no doubt my father was as +good-looking as he when he was as young. Then I am also quite sure that +Bladud is very fond of the boy Cormac, but--I am not at all sure that he +will love the girl Branwen when he sees her." + +"But _I_ am sure of it--quite sure," said the princess, demonstrating +orally again. + +At this there was a slight sound near the door of the apartment in which +this confidential talk was held, which induced Branwen to spring up and +fling it wide open, thus disclosing the lately humiliated servitor with +the blush of guilt upon his brow. + +"Enter!" cried the princess, in an imperious tone, looking up at the +man, who was unusually tall and limp. + +The servitor obeyed. + +"Sit down," said the princess, with a view to get the tall man's head on +a level with her blue indignant eyes. "Have you heard much?" + +"Not much," answered the man, with intense humility. "I heard only a +very little at the end, and that so imperfectly that I don't think I can +remember it--I really don't." + +"Now, listen," said the princess, with a look that was intended to +scorch. "You know my father." + +"Indeed I do,--have known him ever since I was a boy." + +"Well, if you ever breathe a word of what you have seen or heard, or +what you think you have seen or heard to-day, to any one, I will set my +father at you, and that, as you know, will mean roasting alive over a +slow fire at the very least." + +"And," said Branwen, advancing and shaking her forefinger within an inch +of the man's nose, "I will set _my_ father at you, which will mean slow +torture for hours. Moreover, I will set the Boong-jee-gop on your +track, and that will mean--no, I won't say what. It is too horrible +even to mention!" + +"Now--go!" said the princess, pointing to the door. + +The servitor went with an air of profound abasement, which changed into +a look of complicated amusement when he got out of sight. + +"He is quite safe," said the princess, "not that I count much on his +fear, for he is as brave as a she-wolf with whelps, and fears nothing, +but I know he likes me." + +"I think he likes me too," said Branwen, thoughtfully. "Besides, I feel +sure that the Boong-jee-gop has some influence over him. Yes, I think +we are safe." + +"Well, now," she continued, resuming the interrupted conversation, "it +seems to me that the only course open to me is to appear to Bladud as a +girl some day, and see if he recognises me. Yet I don't quite like it, +for, now that it is all past and he is well again, I feel half ashamed +of the part I have played--yet how could I help it when I saw the poor +fellow going away to die--alone!" + +"You could not help it, dear, and you should not wish it were otherwise. +Now, never mind what you feel about it, but let us lay our heads +together and consider what is to be done. You think, I suppose, that +Bladud may go on for a long time searching for this youth Cormac?" + +"Yes, for a very long time, and he'll _never_ find him," replied Branwen +with a merry laugh. + +"Well, then, we must find some means of getting him home without letting +him know why we want him," continued the princess. + +"Just so, but that won't be easy," returned the other with a significant +look, "for he is _very_ fond of Cormac, and won't easily be made to give +up looking for him." + +"You conceited creature, you are too sure of him." + +"Not at all. Only as Cormac. I wish I were sure of him as Branwen!" + +"Perchance he might like you best as the little old woman in grey." + +"It may be so. I think he liked me even as a witch, for he patted my +shoulder once so kindly." + +"I'll tell you what--I'll go and consult father," said the princess. + +"No, you shan't, my dear, for he is not to know anything about it just +yet. But I will go and consult _my_ father. He will give me good +advice, I know." + +The result of Branwen's consultation with her father was that the Hebrew +was summoned to his presence. An explanation took place, during which +Gadarn attempted to look grave, and dignified, as became a noted +northern chief, but frequently turned very red in the face and vented +certain nasal sounds, which betrayed internal commotion. + +"You will therefore start for the Hot Swamp to-morrow, Beniah," he +finally remarked, "and let Bladud know that the king desires his return +to court immediately. I have been told by the king to send him this +message. But keep your own counsel, Hebrew, and be careful not to let +the prince know what _you_ know, else it will go ill with you! Tell +him, from myself, that I have at last fallen on the tracks of the lad +Cormac, and that we are almost sure to find him in this neighbourhood. +Away, and let not thy feet take root on the road." + +CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. + +BRANWEN VISITS GUNRIG. + +Before going off on his mission the Hebrew paid a visit to his own +residence, where he found Branwen busy with culinary operations. +Sitting down on a stool, he looked at her with an expression of mingled +amusement and perplexity. + +"Come hither, my girl," he said, "and sit beside me while I reveal the +straits to which you have brought me. Verily, a short time ago I had +deemed it impossible for any one to thrust me so near to the verge of +falsehood as you have done!" + +"I, Beniah?" exclaimed the maiden, with a look of surprise on her pretty +face so ineffably innocent that it was obviously hypocritical--insomuch +that Beniah laughed, and Branwen was constrained to join him. + +"Yes--you and your father together, for the puzzling man has +commissioned me to set out for the Hot Swamp, to tell Bladud that he is +urgently wanted at home. And he would not even allow me to open my +lips, when I was about to broach the subject of your disguises, although +he almost certainly knows all about them--" + +"What! my father knows?" interrupted Branwen, with raised eyebrows. + +"Yes, and you know that he knows, and he knows that I know, and we all +know that each other knows, and why there should be any objection that +every one should know is more than I can--" + +"Never mind, Beniah," interrupted the girl, with the slightest possible +smile. "You are a dear, good old creature, and I know you won't betray +me. Remember your solemn promise." + +"Truly I shall not forget it soon," replied the Hebrew, "for the trouble +it has cost me already to compose answers that should not be lies is +beyond your light-hearted nature to understand." + +"Ah! yes, indeed," rejoined Branwen, with a sigh of mock humility, "I +was always very lighthearted by nature. The queen used frequently to +tell me so--though she never said it was by `nature,' and the king +agreed with her--though by the way he used to laugh, I don't think he +thought light-heartedness to be _very_ naughty. But come, Beniah, I am +longing to hear what my father commissioned you to say or do." + +"Well, he was very particular in cautioning me _not_ to tell what I +know--" + +"Ah! that knowledge, what a dreadful thing it is to have too much of it! +Well, what more?" + +"He told me what I have already told you, and bid me add from himself +that he has fallen on the tracks of the lad Cormac, and that he is sure +to be found in this neighbourhood." + +"That, at least, will be no lie," suggested the maid. + +"I'm not so sure of that, for the lad Cormac will never be found here or +anywhere else, having no existence at all." + +Branwen laughed at this and expressed surprise. "It seems to me," she +said, "that age or recent worries must have touched your brain, Beniah, +for if the lad Cormac has no existence at all, how is it possible that +you could meet with him at the Hot Swamp, and even make a solemn promise +to him." + +Beniah did not reply to this question, but rose to make preparation for +his journey. Then, as if suddenly recollecting something that had +escaped him, he returned to his seat. + +"My child," he said, "I have that to tell you which will make you sad-- +unless I greatly misunderstand your nature. Gunrig, your enemy, is +dying." + +That the Hebrew had not misunderstood Branwen's nature was evident, from +the genuine look of sorrow and sympathy which instantly overspread her +countenance. + +"Call him not my enemy!" she exclaimed. "An enemy cannot love! But, +tell me about him. I had heard the report that he was recovering." + +"It was the report of a sanguine mother who will not believe that his +end is so near; but she is mistaken. I saw him two days ago. The +arrow-head is still rankling in his chest, and he knows himself to be +dying." + +"Is he much changed in appearance?" asked Branwen. + +"Indeed he is. His great strength is gone, and he submits to be treated +as a child--yet he is by no means childish. The manliness of his strong +nature is left, but the boastfulness has departed, and he looks death in +the face like a true warrior; though I cannot help thinking that if +choice had been given him he would have preferred to fall by the sword +of Bladud, or some doughty foe who could have given him a more summary +dismissal from this earthly scene." + +"Beniah, I will visit him," said Branwen, suddenly brushing back her +hair with both hands, and looking earnestly into the Hebrew's face. + +"That will be hard for you to do and still keep yourself concealed." + +"Nothing will be easier," replied the girl, with some impatience; "you +forget the old woman's dress. I will accompany you as far as his +dwelling. It is only an easy day's journey on foot from here." + +"But, my child, I go on horseback; and I am to be supplied with only one +horse." + +"Well, my father, that is no difficulty; for I will ride and you shall +walk. You will bring the horse here instead of starting straight from +the palace. Then we will set off together, and I will gallop on in +advance. When you reach Gunrig's house in the evening, you will find +the horse fed and rested, and ready for you to go on." + +"But how will you return, child?" + +"By using my legs, man! As an old witch I can travel anywhere at night +in perfect safety." + +According to this arrangement--to which the Hebrew was fain to agree-- +the pair started off a little after daybreak the following morning. +Branwen galloped, as she had said, in advance, leaving her protector to +make his slower way through the forest. + +The sun was high when the domestics of Gunrig's establishment were +thrown into a state of great surprise and no little alarm at sight of a +little old woman in grey bestriding a goodly horse and galloping towards +the house. Dashing into the courtyard at full speed, and scattering the +onlookers right and left, she pulled up with some difficulty, just in +time to prevent the steed going through the parchment window of the +kitchen. + +"Help me down!" she cried, looking full in the face of a lumpish lad, +who stood gazing at her with open eyes and mouth. "Don't you see I am +old and my joints are stiff? Be quick!" + +There was a commanding tone in her shrill voice that brooked no delay. +The lumpish lad shut his mouth, reduced his eyes, and, going shyly +forward, held out his hand. The old woman seized it, and, almost before +he had time to wink, stood beside him. + +"Where is Gunrig's room?" she demanded. + +All the observers pointed to a door at the end of a passage. + +"Take good care of my horse! Rub him well down; feed him. _I_ shall +know if you don't!" she cried, as she entered the passage and knocked +gently at the door. + +It was opened by Gunrig's mother, whose swollen eyes and subdued voice +told their own tale. + +"May I come in and see him, mother?" said Branwen, in her own soft +voice. + +"You are a strange visitor," said the poor woman, in some surprise. "Do +you want much to see him? He is but a poor sight now." + +"Yes--O yes!--I want very much to see him." + +"Your voice is kindly, old woman. You may come in." + +The sight that Branwen saw on entering was, indeed, one fitted to arouse +the most sorrowful emotions of the heart; for there, on a rude couch of +branches, lay the mere shadow of the once stalwart chief, the great +bones of his shoulders showing their form through the garments which he +had declined to take off; while his sunken cheeks, large glittering +eyes, and labouring breath, told all too plainly that disease had almost +completed the ruin of the body, and that death was standing by to +liberate the soul. + +"Who comes to disturb me at such a time, mother?" said the dying man, +with a distressed look. + +Branwen did not give her time to answer, but, hurrying forward, knelt +beside the couch and whispered in his ear. As she did so there was a +sudden rush of blood to the wan cheeks, and something like a blaze of +the wonted fire in the sunken eyes. + +"Mother," he said, with something of his old strength of voice, "leave +us for a short while. This woman has somewhat to tell me." + +"May I not stay to hear it, my son?" + +"No. You shall hear all in a very short time. Just now--leave us!" + +"Now, Branwen," said the chief, taking her hand in his, "what blessed +chance has sent you here?" + +The poor girl did not speak, for when she looked at the great, thin, +transparent hand which held hers, and thought of the day when it swayed +the heavy sword so deftly, she could not control herself, and burst into +tears. + +"Oh! poor, poor Gunrig! I'm so sorry to see you like this!--so very, +very sorry!" + +She could say no more, but covered her face with both hands and wept. + +"Nay, take not your hand from me," said the dying man, again grasping +the hand which she had withdrawn; "its soft grip sends a rush of joy to +my sinking soul." + +"Say not that you are sinking, Gunrig," returned the girl in pitying +tones; "for it is in the power of the All-seeing One to restore you to +health if it be His will." + +"If He is All-seeing, then there is no chance of His restoring me to +health; for He has seen that I have lived a wicked life. Ah! Branwen, +you do not know what I have been. If there is a place of rewards and +punishment, as some tell us there is, assuredly my place will be that of +punishment, for my life has been one of wrong-doing. And there is +something within me that I have felt before, but never so strong as now, +which tells me that there _is_ such a place, and that I am condemned to +it." + +"But I have heard from the Hebrew--who reads strange things marked on a +roll of white cloth--that the All-seeing One's nature is _love_, and +that He has resolved Himself to come and save men from wrong-doing." + +"That would be good news indeed, Branwen, if it were true." + +"The Hebrew says it is true. He says he believes it, and the All-seeing +One is a Redeemer who will save all men from wrong-doing." + +"Would that I could find Him, Branwen, for that is what I wish. I know +not whether there shall be a hereafter or not, but if there is I shall +hope for deliverance from wrong-doing. A place of punishment I care not +much about, for I never shrank from pain or feared death. What I do +fear is a hereafter, in which I shall live over again the old bad life-- +and I am glad it is drawing to a close with your sweet voice sounding in +my ears. I believe it was that voice which first shot into my heart the +desire to do right, and the hatred of wrong." + +"I am glad to hear that, Gunrig, though it never entered into my head, I +confess, to do you such a good turn. And surely it must have been the +All-seeing One who enabled me to influence you thus, and who now recalls +to my mind what the Hebrew read to me--one of those sayings of the good +men of his nation which are marked in the white roll I spoke of. It is +this--`God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.'" + +"That is a good word, if it be a true one," returned the chief, "and I +hope it is. Now, my end is not far off. I am so glad and thankful that +you have forgiven me before the end. Another thing that comforts me is +that Bladud and I have been reconciled." + +"Bladud!" exclaimed the girl. + +"Ay, the prince with whom I fought at the games, you remember." + +"Remember! ay, right well do I remember. It was a notable fight." + +"It was," returned the chief, with a faint smile, "and from that day I +hated him and resolved to kill him, till I met him at the Hot Swamp, +where I got this fatal wound. He nursed me there, and did his best to +save my life, but it was not to be. Yet I think that his tenderness, as +well as your sweet voice, had something to do with turning my angry +spirit round. I would see my mother now. The world is darkening, and +the time is getting short." + +The deathly pallor of the man's cheeks bore witness to the truth of his +words. Yet he had strength to call his mother into the room. + +On entering and beholding a beautiful girl kneeling, and in tears, where +she had left a feeble old woman, she almost fell down with superstitious +fear, deeming that an angel had been sent to comfort her son--and so +indeed one had been sent, in a sense, though not such an one as +superstition suggested. + +A few minutes' talk with Gunrig, however, cleared up the mystery. But +the unwonted excitement and exertion had caused the sands of life to run +more rapidly than might otherwise have been the case. The chief's voice +became suddenly much more feeble, and frequently he gasped for breath. + +"Mother," he said, "Branwen wants to get home without any one knowing +that she has been here. You will send our stoutest man with her +to-night, to guard her through the woods as far as the Hebrew's cave. +Let him not talk to her by the way, and bid him do whatever she +commands." + +"Yes, my dear, dear son, what else can I do to comfort you?" + +"Come and sit beside me, mother, and let me lay my head on your knee. +You were the first to comfort me in this life, and I want you to be the +last. Speak with Branwen, mother, after I am gone. She will comfort +you as no one else can. Give me your hand, mother; I would sleep now as +in the days gone by." + +The bronzed warrior laid his shaggy head on the lap where he had been so +often fondled when he was a little child, and gently fell into that +slumber from which he never more awoke. + +CHAPTER THIRTY THREE. + +THE HEBREW'S MISSION. + +We turn now to Beniah the Hebrew. On arriving at the Hot Swamp he was +amazed to find the change that had been made in the appearance of the +locality in so short a time. + +"United action, you see," said Captain Arkal, who did the honours of the +new settlement in the absence of Bladud and his friends, these being +still absent on their vain search for the lad Cormac, "united action, +perseveringly continued, leads to amazing results." + +He repeated this to himself, in a low tone, as if he were rather proud +of having hit on a neat way of expressing a great truth which he +believed was an original discovery of his own. "Yes," he continued, "I +have got my men, you see, into splendid working order. They act from +morning to night in concert--one consequence of which is that all is +Harmony, and there is but one man at the helm, the consequence of which +is, that all is Power. Harmony and Power! I have no faith, Beniah, in +a divided command. My men work together and feed together and play +together and sleep together, united in the one object of carrying out +the grand designs of Prince Bladud, while I, as the superintendent of +the work, see to it that the work is properly done. Nothing could be +more simple or satisfactory." + +"Or more amazing," added Beniah, as they walked by the margin of a hot +rivulet. "I could scarcely have known the Swamp had I not recognised +its beautiful surroundings." + +"Just so; it is all, as I have said, the result of union, which I hold +to be the very foundation of human power, for united action is strong," +said the captain, with enthusiasm, as he originated the idea which, +years afterwards, became the familiar proverb, "Union is Strength." + +"Most true, O mariner," returned Beniah, "your wisdom reminds me of one +of our kings who wrote many of our wisest sayings." + +"Ah, wise sayings have their value, undoubtedly," returned Arkal, "but +commend me to wise doings. Look here, now, at the clever way in which +Bladud has utilised this bush-covered knoll. It is made to divide this +rivulet in two, so that one branch, as you see, fills this pond, which +is intended for the male population of the place, while the other branch +fills another pond--not in sight at present--intended for the women. +Then, you see that large pond away to the left, a considerable distance +from the fountain-head--that is supplied by a very small stream of the +hot water, so that it soon becomes quite cold, and branch rivulets from +the cold pond to the hot ponds cool them down till they are bearable. +It took six days to fill up the cold pond." + +"We have not yet got the booths made for the women to dress in," +continued the captain, "for we have no women yet in our settlement; but +you see what convenient ones we have set up for the men." + +"But surely," said the Hebrew, looking round with interest, "you have +far more hot water than you require." + +"Yes, much more." + +"What, then, do you do with the surplus?" + +"We just let it run into the swamp at present, as it has always done, +but we are digging a big drain to carry it off into the river. Then, +when the swamp is dry, we will plant eatable things in it, and perhaps +set up more booths and huts and dig more baths. Thus, in course of +time--who knows?--we may have a big town here, and King Hudibras himself +may condescend to lave his royal limbs in our waters." + +"That may well be," returned the Hebrew thoughtfully. "The Hot Spring +is a good gift from the All-seeing One, and if it cures others as it has +cured Prince Bladud, I should not wonder to see the people of the whole +land streaming to the place before long. But have you given up all +thought of returning to your native land, Arkal? Do you mean to settle +here?" + +"Nay, verily--that be far from me! Have I not a fair wife in Hellas, +who is as the light of mine eyes; and a little son who is as the plague +of my life? No, I shall return home once more to fetch my wife and +child here--then I shall have done with salt water for ever, and devote +myself to hot water in time to come." + +"A wise resolve, no doubt," said Beniah, "and in keeping with all your +other doings." + +"See," interrupted Arkal, "there is the river and the women's bath, and +the big drain that I spoke of." + +He pointed to a wide ditch extending from the swamp towards the river. +It had been cut to within a few yards of the latter, and all the men of +the place were busily engaged with primitive picks, spades, and shovels, +in that harmonious unity of action of which the captain had expressed +such a high opinion. + +A few more yards of cutting, and the ditch, or drain, would be +completed, when the waters of the swamp would be turned into it. Those +waters had been banked up at the head of the drain and formed a lake of +considerable size, which, when the neck of land separating it from the +drain should be cut, would rush down the artificial channel and +disappear in the river. + +Engineering in those days, however, had not been studied--at least in +Albion--to the extent which now prevails in England. The neck of land +was not equal to the pressure brought to bear on it, and while the +captain and his friend were looking at it, there appeared symptoms which +caused the former some anxiety. + +At that moment Konar the hunter came up. Although attached to the +settlement as hunter, he had agreed to take his turn with the diggers, +for the water accumulated in the lake so fast that the work had to be +done rapidly, and every available man at the place was pressed into the +service. The overseer himself, even, lent a hand occasionally. + +"I don't like the look of the lower part of that neck," he remarked to +the hunter. + +Konar was a man of few words. By way of reply he laid aside his bow and +descended the bank to examine the weak point. He was still engaged in +the investigation and bending over a moist spot, when the entire mass of +earth gave way and the waters burst into the drain with a gush and a +roar quite indescribable. Konar was swept away instantly as if he had +been a feather. Arkal and Beniah sprang down the bank to his +assistance, and were themselves nearly swept into the flood which had +swallowed up the hunter, but Konar was not quite gone. Another moment +and his legs appeared above the flood, then his head turned up, and then +the raging waters tossed him as if contemptuously on a projecting spit +of bank, where he lay half in and half out of the torrent. + +In a moment both Arkal and the Hebrew were at the spot, seized the +hunter by an arm, the neck of his coat, and the hair of his head, and +drew him out of danger; but no sign of life did the poor man exhibit as +he lay there on the grass. + +Meanwhile the energetic labourers at the lower end of the drain heard +the turmoil and stood motionless with surprise, but were unable to see +what caused it, owing to a thick bush which intervened. Another moment +and they stood aghast, for, round the corner of the only bend in the +drain, there appeared a raging head of foam, with mud, grass, sticks, +stones, and rubbish on its crest, bearing down on them like a +race-horse. + +With a yell that was as fully united as their method of work, the men +scrambled out of the drain and rushed up the bank, exhibiting a unity of +purpose that must have gladdened the heart of Captain Arkal. And they +were not a moment too soon, for the last man was caught by the flood, +and would have been swept away but for the promptitude of his fellows. + +"H'm! it has saved you some work, lads," observed the captain, with a +touch of grave irony as he pointed to the portion of the bank on which +they had been engaged. He was right. The flood had not only overleaped +this, but had hollowed it out and swept it clean away into the river-- +thus accomplishing effectively in ten minutes what would have probably +required the labour of several hours. + +On carrying Konar up to the village of the Swamp--afterwards Swamptown, +later Aquae Sulis, ultimately Bath--which had already begun to grow on +the nearest height, they found that Bladud and his party had just +arrived from the last of the searching expeditions. + +"What! Beniah?" exclaimed the prince, when the Hebrew met him. "You +have soon returned to us. Is all well at home?" + +"All is well. I am sent on a mission to you, but that is not so urgent +as the case of Konar." + +As he spoke the young men laid the senseless form on the ground. +Bladud, at once dismissing all other subjects from his mind, examined +him carefully, while Brownie snuffed at him with sympathetic interest. + +"He lives, and no bones are broken," said the prince, looking up after a +few minutes; "here, some of you, go fetch hot water and pour it on him; +then rub him dry; cover him up and let him rest. He has only been +stunned. And let us have something to eat, Arkal. We are ravenous as +wolves, having had scarce a bite since morning." + +"You come in good time," replied the captain. "Our evening meal is just +ready." + +"Come along, then, let us to work. You will join us, Beniah, and tell +me the object of your mission while we eat." + +The men of old may not have been epicures, but there can be no question +that they were tremendous eaters. No doubt, living as they did, +constantly in fresh air, having no house drains or gas, and being +blessed with superabundant exercise, their appetites were keen and their +capacities great. For at least ten minutes after the evening meal +began, Bladud, Arkal, Dromas, little Maikar, and the Hebrew, were as +dumb and as busy as Brownie. They spake not a single word--except that +once the prince took a turkey drumstick from between his teeth to look +up and repeat, "All well at home, you say?" To which Beniah, checking +the course of a great wooden spoon to his lips, replied, "All well." + +There was roast venison at that feast, and roast turkey and roast hare, +and plover and ducks of various kinds, all roasted, and nothing whatever +boiled, except some sorts of green vegetables, the names of which have, +unfortunately, not been handed down to us, though we have the strongest +ground for believing that they were boiled in earthenware pots--for, in +recent excavations in Bath, vessels of that description have been found +among the traces of the most ancient civilisation. + +"Now," said the prince, wiping his mouth with a bunch of grass when he +came to the first pause, "what may be the nature of your mission, +Beniah?" + +"Let me ask, first," replied the Hebrew, also wiping his mouth with a +similar pocket handkerchief, "have you found the lad Cormac yet?" + +"No," answered the prince, gloomily, and with a slightly surprised look, +for the expression of Beniah's countenance puzzled him. "Why do you +ask?" + +"Because that bears somewhat on my mission. I have to deliver a message +from your father, the king. He bids me say that you are to return home +immediately." + +"Never!" cried Bladud, with that Medo-Persic decision of tone and +manner, which implies highly probable and early surrender, "never! until +I find the boy--dead or alive." + +"For," continued the Hebrew, slowly, "he has important matters to +consider with you--matters that will not brook delay. Moreover, Gadarn +bid me say that he has fallen on the tracks of the lad Cormac, and that +we are almost sure to find him in the neighbourhood of your father's +town." + +"What say you?" exclaimed Bladud, dropping his drumstick--not the same +one, but another which he had just begun--"repeat that." + +Beniah repeated it. + +"Arkal," said the prince, turning to the captain, "I will leave you in +charge here, and start off by the first light to-morrow morning. See +that poor Konar is well cared for. Maikar, you will accompany me, and I +suppose, Dromas, that you also will go." + +"Of course," said Dromas, with a meaning smile--so full of meaning, +indeed, as to be quite beyond interpretation. + +"By the way," continued Bladud,--who had resumed the drumstick,--"has +that fellow Gadarn found his daughter Branwen?" + +Beniah choked on a bone, or something, at that moment, and, looking at +the prince with the strangest expression of face, and tears in his eyes, +explained that he had not--at least not to his, Beniah's, absolutely +certain knowledge. + +"That is to say," he continued in some confusion, "if--if--he has found +her--which seems to me highly probable--there must be some--some mystery +about her, for--it is impossible that--" + +Here the Hebrew choked again with some violence. + +"Have a care, man!" cried the prince in some alarm. "However hungry a +man may be, he should take time to swallow. You seem to be +contradicting yourself, but I don't wonder, in the circumstances." + +"Verily, I wonder at nothing, in the circumstances, for they are +perplexing--even distressing," returned the Hebrew with a sigh, as he +wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his coat. + +"Better not speak with your mouth full, then. Ah! poor Gadarn," said +Bladud, in an obviously indifferent tone of voice. "I'm sorry for him. +Girls like his daughter, who are self-willed, and given to running away, +are a heavy affliction to parents. And, truly, I ought to feel sympathy +with him, for, although I am seeking for a youth of very different +character, we are both so far engaged in similar work--search for the +lost. And what of my father, mother, and sister?" + +"All hale and hearty!" replied Beniah, with a sigh of relief, "and all +anxious for your return, especially Hafrydda." + +At this point Dromas looked at the speaker with deepened interest. + +"She is a good girl, your sister," continued Beniah, "and greatly taken +up just now with that old woman you met in my cave. Hafrydda has +strange fancies." + +"She might have worse fancies than being taken up with poor old women," +returned the prince. "I'm rather fond of them myself, and was +particularly attracted by the old woman referred to. She was--what! +choking again, Beniah? Come, I think you have had enough for one meal. +And so have we all, friends, therefore we had better away to roost if we +are to be up betimes in the morning." + +CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. + +BLADUD'S RETURN AND TRIALS. + +We need scarcely say that there was joy at the court of King Hudibras +when Bladud returned home, cured of his terrible disease. + +The first person whom the prince hurried off to visit, after seeing his +father, and embracing his mother and sister, was the northern chief +Gadarn. That jovial character was enjoying a siesta after the mid-day +meal at the time, but willingly arose on the prince being announced. + +"Glad to see you, Gadarn," said Bladud, entering the room that had been +apportioned to the chief, and sitting down on a bench for visitors, +which, according to custom, stood against the inner wall of the +apartment. "I hope your head is clear and your arm strong." + +"Both are as they should be," answered Gadarn, returning the salutation. + +"I thank you," replied the prince, "my arm is indeed strong, but my head +is not quite as clear as it might be." + +"Love got anything to do with it?" asked Gadarn, with a knowing look. + +"Not the love of woman, if that is what you mean." + +"Truly that is what I do mean--though, of course, I admit that one's +horses and dogs have also a claim on our affections. What is it that +troubles you, my son?" + +The affectionate conclusion of this reply, and the chief's manner, drew +the prince towards him, so that he became confidential. + +"The truth is, Gadarn, that I am very anxious to know what news you have +of Cormac--for the fate of that poor boy hangs heavy on my mind. +Indeed, I should have refused to quit the Swamp, in spite of the king's +commands and my mother's entreaties, if you had not sent that message by +the Hebrew." + +"Ah, Bladud, my young friend, that is an undutiful speech for a son to +make about his parents," said the chief, holding up a remonstrative +forefinger. "If that is the way you treat your natural parents, how can +I expect that--that--I mean--" + +Here the chief was seized with a fit of sneezing, so violent, that it +made the prince quite concerned about the safety of his nose. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Gadarn, as a final wind up to the last sneeze, "the air +of that Swamp seems to have been too strong for me. I'm growing old, +you see. Well--what was I saying?--never mind. You were referring to +that poor lad Cormac. Yes, I have news of him." + +"Good news, I hope?" said the prince, anxiously. "O yes--very good-- +excellent! That is to say--rather--somewhat indefinite news, for--for +the person who saw him told me--in fact, it is difficult to explain, +because people are often untrustworthy, and exaggerate reports, so that +it is not easy to make out what is true and what is false, or whether +both accounts may be true, or the whole thing false altogether. You +see, Bladud, our poor brains," continued the chief, in an argumentative +tone, "are so--so--queerly mixed up that one cannot tell--tell--why, +there was once a fellow in my army, whose manner of reporting any event, +no matter how simple, was so incomprehensible that it was impossible +to--to--but let me tell you an anecdote about him. His name was--" + +"Forgive my interrupting you, chief, but I am so anxious to hear +something about my lost friend that--" + +"Ha! Bladud, I fear that you are a selfish man, for you have not yet +asked about my lost daughter." + +"Indeed I am not by any means indifferent about her; but--but, you know, +I have never seen her, and, to tell the plain truth, my anxiety about +the boy drove her out of my mind for the moment. Have you found her?" + +"Ay, that I have; as well and hearty as ever she was, though somewhat +more beautiful and a trifle more mischievous. But I will introduce her +to you to-morrow. There is to be a grand feast, is there not, at the +palace?" + +"Yes; something of the sort, I believe, in honour of my return," +answered the prince, a good deal annoyed by the turn the conversation +had taken. + +"Well, then, you shall see her then; for she has only just arrived, and +is too tired to see any one," continued Gadarn, with a suppressed yawn; +"and you'll be sure to fall in love with her; but you had better not, +for her affections are already engaged. I give you fair warning, so be +on your guard." + +The prince laughed, and assured his friend that there was no fear, as he +had seen thousands of fair girls both in East and West, but his heart +had never yet been touched by one of them. + +At this the chief laughed loudly, and assured Bladud that his case had +now reached a critical stage: for when young men made statements of that +kind, they were always on the point of being conquered. + +"But leave me now, Bladud," he continued, with a yawn so vast that the +regions around the uvula were clearly visible; "I'm frightfully sleepy, +and you know you have shortened my nap this afternoon." + +The prince rose at once. + +"At all events," he said, "I am to understand, before I go, that Cormac +_has_ been seen?" + +"O yes! Certainly; no doubt about that!" + +"And is well?" + +"Quite well." + +Fain to be content with this in the meantime, Bladud hurried to the +apartment of his sister. + +"Hafrydda!" he exclaimed, "has Gadarn gone out of his mind?" + +"I believe not," she replied, sitting down beside her brother and taking +his hand. "Why do you ask?" + +"Because he talks--I say it with all respect--like an idiot." + +Hafrydda laughed; and her brother thereupon gave her a full account of +the recent interview. + +"Now, my sister, you were always straightforward and wise. Give me a +clear answer. Has Cormac been found?" + +"No, he has not been found; but--" + +"Then," interrupted Bladud, in a savage tone that was very foreign to +his nature, "Gadarn is a liar!" + +"Oh, brother! say not so." + +"How can I help it? He gave me to understand that Cormac _has_ been +found--at least, well, no, not exactly found, but _seen_ and heard of. +I'm no better than the rest of you," continued Bladud, with a sarcastic +laugh. "It seems as if there were something in the air just now which +prevents us all from expressing ourselves plainly." + +"Well, then, brother," said Hafrydda, with a smile, "if he told you that +Cormac has been seen and heard of, and is well, surely that may relieve +your mind till to-morrow, when I know that some one who knows all about +the boy is to be at our festival. We begin it with games, as usual. +Shall you be there?" + +"I'd rather not," replied the prince almost testily; "but, of course, it +would be ungracious not to appear. This, however, I do know, that I +shall take no part in the sports." + +"As you please, brother. We are only too glad to have you home again, +to care much about that. But, now, I have something of importance to +tell you about myself." + +Bladud was interested immediately; and for the moment forgot his own +troubles as he gazed inquiringly into the fair countenance of the +princess. + +"I am going to wed, brother." + +"Indeed! You do not surprise me, though you alarm me--I know not why. +Who is the man?--not Gunrig, I hope." + +"Alas! no. Poor Gunrig is dead." + +"Dead! Ah, poor man! I am glad we met at the Swamp." + +Bladud looked sad for a moment, but did not seem unduly oppressed by the +news. + +"The man who has asked me to wed is your friend Dromas." + +"What!" exclaimed the prince, in blazing surprise, not unmingled with +delight. "The man has been here only a few hours! He must have been +very prompt!" + +"It does not take many hours to ask a girl to wed; and I like a prompt +man," returned the princess, looking pensively at the floor. + +"But tell me, how came it all about? How did he manage it in so short a +time?" + +"Well, brother dear--but you'll never tell any one, will you?" + +"Never--never!" + +"Well, you must know, when we first met, we--we--" + +"Fell in love. Poor helpless things!" + +"Just so, brother; we fell, somehow in--whatever it was; and he told me +with his eyes--and--and--I told him with mine. Then he went off to find +you; and came back, having found you--for which I was very grateful. +Then he went to father and asked leave to speak to me. Then he went to +mother. What they said I do not know; but he came straight to me, took +my hand, fixed his piercing black eyes on me, and said, `Hafrydda, I +love you.'" + +"Was that _all_?" asked Bladud. + +"Yes; that was all he _said_; but--but that was not the end of the +interview! It would probably have lasted till now, if you had not +interrupted us." + +"I'm so very sorry, sister, but of course I did not know that--" + +They were interrupted at that moment by the servitor, to whom the reader +has already been introduced. He entered with a brightly intelligent +grin on his expressive face, but, on beholding Bladud, suddenly +elongated his countenance into blank stupidity. + +"The old woman waits outside, princess." + +"Oh, send her here at once." (Then, when the servitor had left.) "This +is the person I mentioned who knows about Cormac." + +Another moment and the little old woman in the grey shawl was ushered +in. She started visibly on beholding Bladud. + +"Come in, granny. I did not expect you till to-morrow." + +"I thought I was to see you alone," said the old woman, testily, in her +hard, metallic voice. + +"That is true, granny, but I thought you might like to see my brother +Bladud, who has just returned home safe and well." + +"No, I _don't_ want to see your brother. What do I care for people's +brothers? I want to see yourself, alone." + +"Let me congratulate you, at all events," interposed the prince, kindly, +"on your having recovered your hearing, grannie. This is not the first +time we have met, Hafrydda, but I grieve to see that my old friend's +nerves are not so strong as they used to be. You tremble a good deal." + +"Yes, I tremble more than I like," returned the old woman peevishly, +"and, perhaps, when you come to my age, young man, and have got the +palsy, you'll tremble more than I do." + +"Nay, be not angry with me. I meant not to hurt your feelings; and +since you wish to be alone with my sister, I will leave you." + +When he was gone Branwen threw back the grey shawl and stood up with +flashing, tearful eyes. + +"Was it kind--was it wise, Hafrydda, to cause me to run so great a risk +of being discovered?" + +"Forgive me, dear Branwen, I did not mean to do it, but you arrived +unexpectedly, and I let you come in without thinking. Besides, I knew +you could easily deceive him. Nobody could guess it was you--not even +your own mother." + +"There must be some truth in that," returned the maiden, quickly +changing her mood, and laughing, "for I deceived my own father +yesterday. At the Swamp he found me out at once as Cormac, for I had to +speak in my natural voice, and my full face was exposed; but the grey +shawl and the metallic voice were too much for him. Dear, good, +patient, old man, you have no notion what a fearful amount of abuse he +took from me, without losing temper--and I gave him some awful +home-thrusts too! I felt almost tempted to kiss him and beg his pardon. +But now, Hafrydda, I am beginning to be afraid of what all this +deceiving and playing the double-face will come to. And I'm ashamed of +it too--I really am. What will Bladud think of me when he finds out? +Won't he despise and hate me?" + +"Indeed he will not. I know his nature well," returned the princess, +kissing, and trying to reassure her friend, whose timid look and tearful +eyes seemed to indicate that all her self-confidence and courage were +vanishing. "He loves you already, and love is a preventive of hate as +well as a sovereign remedy for it." + +"Ay, he is fond of Cormac, I know, but that is a very different thing +from loving Branwen! However, to-morrow will tell. If he cares only +for the boy and does not love the girl, I shall return with my father to +the far north, and you will never see Branwen more." + +CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE. + +THE PLOT THICKENS. + +During the residence of Gadarn at the court of King Hudibras, that wily +northern chief had led the king to understand that one of his +lieutenants had at last discovered his daughter Branwen in the hands of +a band of robbers, from whom he had rescued her, and that he expected +her arrival daily. + +"But what made the poor child run away?" asked the king at one of his +interviews with his friend. "We were all very fond of her, and she of +us, I have good reason to believe." + +"I have been told," replied the chief, "that it was the fear of Gunrig." + +"Gunrig! Why, the man was to wed my daughter. She had no need to fear +him." + +"That may be so, but I know--though it is not easy to remember how I +came to know it--that Gunrig had been insolent enough to make up to her, +after he was defeated by Bladud, and she was so afraid of him that she +ran away, and thus fell into the hands of robbers." + +While the chief was speaking, Hudibras clenched his hands and glared +fiercely. + +"Dared he to think of another girl when he was engaged to my daughter!" +he said between his teeth. "It is well that Gunrig is dead, for +assuredly I would have killed him." + +"It is well indeed," returned Gadarn, "for if your killing had not been +sufficient, I would have made it more effectual. But he is out of the +way now, so we may dismiss him." + +"True--and when may we expect Branwen back again, poor child?" asked the +king. + +"In a day or two at latest. From what was told me by the runner who was +sent on in advance, it is possible that she may be here to-morrow, in +time for the sports." + +The wily chief had settled it in his own mind that Branwen should arrive +exactly at the time when there was to be a presentation of chiefs; which +ceremony was to take place just before the commencement of the sports. +This arrangement he had come to in concert with a little old woman in a +grey shawl, who paid him a private visit daily. + +"Do you know, Gadarn, who this youth Cormac is, whom Bladud raves so +much about?" + +The northern chief was seized at that moment with one of those violent +fits of sneezing to which of late he had become unpleasantly subject. + +"Oh! ye--ye--y-ha! yes;--excuse me, king, but since I went to that Hot +Swamp, something seems to have gone wrong wi'--wi'--ha! my nose." + +"Something will go worse wrong with it, chief, if you go on like that. +I thought the last one must have split it. Well, what know you about +Cormac?" + +"That he appears to be a very good fellow. I can say nothing more about +him than that, except that your son seems to think he owes his life to +his good nursing at a critical point in his illness." + +"I know that well enough," returned the king, "for Bladud has impressed +it on me at least a dozen times. He seems to be very grateful. Indeed +so am I, and it would please me much if I had an opportunity of showing +my gratitude to the lad. Think you that there is any chance of finding +out where he has disappeared to?" + +"Not the least chance in the world." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed the king in surprise. "That is strange, for Bladud, +who has just left me, says that he has the best of reasons for believing +that we shall have certain news of him tomorrow. But go, Gadarn, and +consult my doctor about this complaint of yours, which interrupts +conversation so awkwardly. We can resume our talk at some other time." + +Gadarn obediently went, holding his sides as if in agony, and sneezing +in a manner that caused the roof-tree of the palace to vibrate. + +Returning to his own room he found the little old woman in grey awaiting +him. + +"You've been laughing again, father," she said. "I see by the +purpleness of your face. You'll burst yourself at last if you go on +so." + +"Oh! you little old hag--oh! Cormac--oh! Branwen, I hope you won't be +the death of me," cried the chief, flinging his huge limbs on a couch +and giving way to unrestrained laughter, till the tears ran down his +cheeks. "If they did not all look so grave when speaking about you, it +wouldn't be so hard to bear. It's the gravity that kills me. But come, +Branwen," he added, as he suddenly checked himself and took her hand, +"what makes you look so anxious, my child?" + +"Because I feel frightened, and ashamed, and miserable," she answered, +with no symptom of her sire's hilarity. "I doubt if I should have +followed Bladud--but if I had not he would have died--and I don't like +to think of all the deceptions I have been practising--though I couldn't +very well help it--could I? Then I fear that Bladud will forget Cormac +when he learns to despise Branwen--" + +"Despise Branwen!" shouted Gadarn, fiercely, as his hand involuntarily +grasped the hilt of his sword. "If he did, I would cleave him from his +skull to his waist--" + +"Quiet you, my sweet father," said Branwen, with a little smile, "you +know that two can play at that game, and that you have a skull and a +waist as well as Bladud--though your waist is a good deal thicker than +his. I'm not so sure about the skull!" + +"I accept your reproof, child, for boastfulness is hateful in a warrior. +But get up, my love. What would happen if some one came into the room +and found a little old hag sitting on my knee with her arm around my +neck?" + +"Ah, true, father. I did not think of that. I'm rather given to not +thinking of some things. Perhaps that inquisitive servitor may be--no, +he's not there this time," said Branwen, reclosing the door and sitting +down on a stool beside the chief. "Now come, father, and learn your +lesson." + +Gadarn folded his hands and looked at his child with an air of meek +humility. + +"Well?" + +"Well, first of all, you must tell the king tomorrow, at the right time, +that I have just come back, and am very tired and shall not appear till +you take me to him while the other people are being presented. Then you +will lead me forward and announce me with a loud voice, so that no one +shall fail to hear that I am Branwen, your daughter, you understand? +Now, mind you speak well out." + +"I understand--with a shout, something like my battle-cry!" + +"Not exactly so loud as that, but so as Bladud shall be sure to hear +you; and he will probably be near to his father at the time." + +"Just so. What next?" + +"Oh, that's all you will have to do. Just retire among the other +courtiers then, and leave the rest to me." + +"That's a very short lesson, my little one; would you not like to be +introduced to Bladud too? He does not know you, you know." + +"Certainly not; that would ruin all--you dear old goose. Just do +exactly what I tell you, and you will be sure to go right." + +"How like your dear mother you are, my little one, in your modest +requirements!" + +Having finished the lesson, the little old woman retired to a remote +part of the palace which, through Hafrydda's influence, had been +assigned to her, and the great northern chief, unbuckling his +sword-belt, called lustily for his mid-day meal. + +Customs at that date, you see, were more free-and-easy than they are +now, and less ceremonious. The visitors at the palace of King Hudibras +were expected only to appear at the royal board at the evening meal +after all the business or pleasure of each day was over. At all other +times they were supposed to do as they pleased and shout for food as +they happened to require it. + +It is perhaps unnecessary to comment on the exceeding convenience of +this custom, leaving, as it did, every one to follow the bent of +inclination, from earliest morn till dewy eve, with the prospect of an +enjoyable _reunion_ after dark--during which, of course, the adventures +of each were narrated, exaggerated, underrated, or commented on, as the +case might be, and the social enjoyments were enhanced by warlike and +sentimental song as well as by more or less--usually more than less-- +thrilling story. + +CHAPTER THIRTY SIX. + +THE DENOUEMENT. + +It was a sunny, frosty, glorious forenoon when King Hudibras awoke to +the consciousness of the important day that was before him, and the +importunate vacuum that was within him. + +Springing out of bed with a right royal disregard of appearances he +summoned his servitor-in-waiting and ordered breakfast. + +In the breakfast-room he met the queen, Hafrydda, Bladud, and Dromas-- +the latter being now considered one of the family--and these five +proceeded to discuss and arrange the proceedings of the day during the +progress of the meal. + +"You will join in the sports, of course, son Dromas," said the king, +"and show us how the Olympic victors carry themselves. Ha! I should +not wonder if a few of our lads will give you some trouble to beat +them." + +"You may be right, father," returned the young man, modestly, "for one +of your lads has already beaten me at most things." + +"You mean Bladud?" returned the king. + +"Dromas is only so far right," interposed the prince. "It is true that +where mere brute force is required I usually have the advantage, but +where grace and speed come into play I am lost." + +Of course Dromas would not admit this, and of course Hafrydda's fair +cheeks were crimsoned when the youth, accidentally looking up, caught +the princess accidentally gazing at him; and, still more of course, the +king, who was sharp as a needle in such matters, observed their +confusion and went into a loud laugh, which he declared was only the +result of merry thoughts that were simmering in his brain. + +The reception was to be held in the large hall of the palace. No ladies +were to be presented, for it must be remembered that these were +barbarous times, and woman had not yet attained to her true position! +Indeed, there was to be no ceremony whatever--no throne, no crown, no +gold-sticks in waiting or other sticks of any kind. It was to be a sort +of free-and-easy conversazione in the presence of the royal family, +where, just before the sports began, any one who was moved by that +ambition might hold personal intercourse with the king, and converse +with him either on the affairs of State, or on private matters, or +subjects of a more light and social kind--such as the weather. + +At the appointed hour--which was indicated by that rough and ready but +most natural of sun-dials, the shadow of a tree falling on a certain +spot--the royal family adjourned to the large hall, and the +unceremonious ceremony began. + +First of all, on the doors being thrown open a crowd of nobles--or +warriors--entered, and while one of them went to the king, and began an +earnest entreaty that war might be declared without delay against a +certain chief who was particularly obnoxious to him, another sauntered +up to the princess and began a mild flirtation in the primitive manner, +which was characteristic of the sons of Mars in that day--to the +unutterable jealousy of Dromas, who instantly marked him down as a fit +subject for overwhelming defeat at the approaching games. At the same +time the family doctor paid his respects to the queen and began to +entertain her with graphic accounts of recent cases--for doctors had no +objection to talking "shop" in those days. + +We have said that no ladies were admitted to places of public +importance, such as grand-stands or large halls, but we have also +pointed out that the ladies of the royal family and their female friends +formed an exception to the rule. It was, as it were, the dawn of +women's freedom--the insertion of the small end of that wedge which +Christianity and civilisation were destined to drive home--sometimes too +far home! + +Gradually the hall began to fill, and the hum of conversation became +loud, when there was a slight bustle at the door which caused a +modification though not a cessation of the noise. + +It was caused by the entrance of Gadarn leading Branwen by the hand. +The girl was now dressed in the costume that befitted her age and sex, +and it is best described by the word simplicity. Her rich auburn hair +fell in short natural curls on her neck--the luxuriant volume of it +having, as the reader is aware, been sacrificed some time before. She +wore no ornament of any kind save, on one side of her beautiful head, a +small bunch of wild-flowers that had survived the frost. + +At the time of their entrance, Bladud was stooping to talk with Hafrydda +and did not observe them, but when he heard Gadarn's sonorous voice he +turned with interest to listen. + +"King Hudibras," said the northern chief, in a tone that produced +instant silence, "I have found the lost one--my daughter Branwen." + +As they moved through the crowd of tall warriors Bladud could not at +first catch sight of the girl. + +"Ha! Hafrydda," he said, with a pleasant smile, "your young friend and +companion found at last. I congratulate you. I'm so glad that--" + +He stopped, the colour fled from his cheeks, his chest heaved. He +almost gasped for breath. Could he believe his eyes, for there stood a +girl with the features, the hair, the eyes of Cormac, but infinitely +more beautiful! + +For some time the poor prince stood utterly bereft of speech. +Fortunately no one observed him, as all were too much taken up with what +was going on. The king clasped the girl's hands and kissed her on both +cheeks. Then the queen followed, and asked her how she could have been +so cruel as to remain so long away. And Branwen said a few words in +reply. + +It seemed as if an electric shock passed through Bladud, for the voice +also was the voice of Cormac! + +At this point the prince turned to look at his sister. She was gazing +earnestly into his face. + +"Hafrydda--is--is that really Branwen?" + +"Yes, brother, that is Branwen. I must go to her." + +As she spoke, she started off at a run and threw her arms round her +friend's neck. + +"I cannot--cannot believe it is you," she exclaimed aloud--and then, +whispering in Branwen's ear, "oh! you wicked creature, to make such a +hypocrite of me. But come," she added aloud, "come to my room. I must +have you all to myself alone." + +For one moment, as they passed, Branwen raised her eyes, and, as they +met those of the prince, a deep blush overspread her face. Another +moment and the two friends had left the hall together. + +We need not weary the reader by describing the games and festivities +that followed. Such matters have probably been much the same, in all +important respects, since the beginning of time. There was a vast +amount of enthusiasm, and willingness to be contented with little, on +the part of the people, and an incredible desire to talk and delay +matters, and waste time, on the part of judges, umpires, and starters, +but there was nothing particularly noteworthy, except that Bladud +consented to run one race with his friend Dromas, and was signally +beaten by him, to the secret satisfaction of Hafrydda, and the open +amusement of the king. + +But Branwen did not appear at the games, nor did she appear again during +the remainder of that day, and poor Bladud was obliged to restrain his +anxiety, for he felt constrained to remain beside his father, and, +somehow, he failed in his various attempts to have a few words of +conversation with his mother. + +At last, like all sublunary things, the games came to an end, and the +prince hastened to his sister's room. + +"May I come in?" he asked, knocking. + +"Yes, brother." + +There was a peculiar tone in her voice, and a curious expression in her +eyes, that the prince did not fail to note. + +"Hafrydda," he exclaimed, eagerly, "there is _no_ Cormac?" + +"True, brother, there is no Cormac--there never was. Branwen and Cormac +are one!" + +"And you knew it--and _she_ knew it, all along. Oh, why did you agree +to deceive me?" + +"Nay, brother, I did not mean to deceive you--at least not at first. +Neither did Branwen. I knew nothing about it till she came home, after +being with you at the Swamp, and told me that she was impelled by sheer +pity to follow you, intending to nurse you; thinking at first that we +had let you go to die alone. Then she was caught in the woods by +robbers, and she only escaped from them by putting on a boy's dress and +running away. They gave chase, however, caught her up, and, had it not +been for you, would have recaptured her. The rest you know. But now, +brother, I am jealous for my dear friend. She has expressed fear that, +in her great pity for you, she may be thought to have acted an unwomanly +part, and that you will perhaps despise her." + +"Unwomanly! despise!" exclaimed Bladud in amazement. "Hafrydda, do you +regard me as a monster of ingratitude?" + +"Nay, brother, that do I not. I think that you could never despise one +who has felt such genuine pity for you as to risk and endure so much." + +"Hafrydda, do you think there is no stronger feeling than pity for me in +the heart of Branwen?" asked Bladud in a subdued, earnest voice. + +"That you must find out for yourself, brother," answered the princess. +"Yet after all, if you are only fond of Cormac, what matters the feeling +that may be in the heart of Branwen? Are you in love with her already, +Bladud, after so short an acquaintance?" + +"In love with her!" exclaimed the prince. "There is no Cormac. There +is but one woman in the wide world now--" + +"That is not complimentary to your mother and myself, I fear," +interrupted his sister. + +"But," continued the prince, paying no regard to the interruption, "is +there any chance--any hope--of--of--something stronger than pity being +in her heart?" + +"I say again, ask that of herself, Bladud; but now I think of it," added +the princess, leaping up in haste, "I am almost too late to keep an +appointment with Dromas!" + +She went out hurriedly, and the prince, full of new-born hopes mingled +with depressing anxieties, went away into the neighbouring woods to +meditate--for, in the haste of her departure, Hafrydda had neglected to +tell him where Branwen was to be found, and he shrank from mentioning +her name to any one else. + +But accident--as we call it--sometimes brings about what the most +laboured design fails to accomplish. + +Owing to a feeling of anxiety which she could not shake off, Branwen had +gone out that evening to cool her fevered brow in the woods, just a few +minutes before the prince entered them. It was a strange coincidence; +but are not all coincidences strange? + +Seating herself on a fallen tree she cast up her eyes towards the sky +where a solitary star, like a beacon of hope, was beginning to twinkle. +She had not been there more than a few minutes when a rustle in the +neighbouring thicket startled her. Almost before she had time to look +round the prince stood before her. She trembled, for now she felt that +the decisive hour had come--whether for good or evil. + +Seating himself beside her, the prince took one of her hands in his and +looked steadily into her downcast face. + +"Corm--Bran--" he began, and stopped. + +She looked up. + +"Branwen," he said, in a low, calm voice, "will it pain you very much to +know that I am glad--inexpressibly glad--that there is no youth Cormac +in all the wide world?" + +Whether she was pained or not the girl did not say, but there was a +language in her eyes which induced Bladud to slip his disengaged arm +round--well, well, there are some things more easily conceived than +described. She seemed about to speak, but Bladud stopped her mouth-- +how, we need not tell--not rudely, you may be sure--suffice to say that +when the moon arose an hour later, and looked down into the forest that +evening she saw the prince and Branwen still seated, hand in hand, on +the fallen tree, gazing in rapt attention at the stars. + +CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN. + +THE LAST. + +When Bladud walked out to the Hebrew's hut next day and informed him of +what had taken place, that long-suffering man heaved a deep sigh and +expressed his intense relief that the whole affair was at last cleared +up and had come to an end. + +"I cannot view matters in the same light that you do, Beniah," said the +prince, "for, in my opinion, things have only now come to a satisfactory +beginning. However, I suppose that you are thinking of the strange +perplexities in which you have been involved so long." + +"I would not style them perplexities, prince, but intrigues--obvious and +unjustifiable intrigues--in which innocent persons have been brought +frequently to the verge of falsehood--if they have not, indeed, been +forced to overstep the boundary." + +"Surely, Beniah, circumstances, against which none of us had power to +contend, had somewhat to do with it all, as well as intrigue." + +"I care not," returned the Hebrew, "whether it was the intrigues of your +court or the circumstances of it, which were the cause of all the mess +in which I and others have been involved, but I am aweary of it, and +have made up my mind to leave the place and retire to a remote part of +the wilderness, where I may find in solitude solace to my exhausted +spirit, and rest to my old bones." + +"That will never do, Beniah," said the prince, laughing. "You take too +serious a view of the matter. There is no fear of any more intrigues or +circumstances arising to perplex you for some time to come. Besides, I +want your services very much--but, before broaching that point, let me +ask why you have invited me to come to see you here. Hafrydda gave me +your message--" + +"My message!" repeated the Hebrew in surprise. + +"Yes--to meet you here this forenoon on urgent business. If it is +anything secret you have to tell me, I hope you have not got your +wonderful old witch in the back cave, for she seems to have discovered +as thorough a cure for deafness as I found for leprosy at the Hot +Swamp." + +"Wonderful old witch!" repeated Beniah, with a dazed look, and a tone of +exasperation that the prince could not account for. "Do you, then, not +know about that old woman?" + +"Oh! yes, I know only too much about her," replied Bladud. "She has +been staying at the palace for some time, as you know, and rather a +lively time the old hag has given us. She went in to see my mother one +day and threw her into convulsions, from which, I think, she has hardly +recovered yet. Then she went to my father's room--the chief Gadarn and +I were with him at the time--and almost before she had time to speak +they went into fits of laughter at her till the tears ran down their +cheeks. I must say it seemed to me unnecessarily rude and unkind, for, +although the woman is a queer old thing, and has little more of her face +visible than her piercing black eyes, I could see nothing to laugh at in +her shrivelled-up, bent little body. Besides this, she has kept the +domestics in a state of constant agitation, for most of them seem to +think her a limb of the evil spirit. But what makes you laugh so?" + +"Oh! I see now," returned the Hebrew, controlling himself by a strong +effort. "I understand now why the old woman wished to be present at our +interview. Come forth, thou unconscionable hag!" added Beniah, in the +voice of a stentor, "and do your worst. I am past emotion of any kind +whatever now." + +As he spoke he gazed, with the resigned air of a martyr, at the inner +end of his cavern. Bladud also looked in that direction. A moment +later and the little old woman with the grey shawl appeared; thrust out +the plank bridge; crossed over, and tottered towards them. + +"Dearie me! Beniah, there's no need to yell so loud. You know I've got +back my hearing. What want ye with me? I'm sure I have no wish to pry +into the secrets of this young man or yourself. What d'ye want?" + +But Beniah stood speechless, a strange expression on his face, his lips +firmly compressed and his arms folded across his breast. + +"Have you become as dumb as I was deaf, old man?" asked the woman, +petulantly. + +Still the Hebrew refused to speak. + +"Have patience with him, old woman," said Bladud, in a soothing tone. +"He is sometimes taken with unaccountable fits--" + +"Fits!" interrupted the old woman. "I wish he had the fits that I have +sometimes. Perhaps they would cure him of his impudence. They would +cure you too, young man, of your stupidity." + +"Stupidity!" echoed Bladud, much amused. "I have been credited with +pride and haste and many other faults in my day, but never with +stupidity." + +"Was it not stupid of you to go and ask that silly girl to wed you--that +double-faced thing that knows how to cheat and deceive and--" + +"Come, come, old woman," said the prince, repressing with difficulty a +burst of indignation. "You allow your old tongue to wag too freely. I +suppose," he added, turning to Beniah, "that we can conclude our +conversation outside?" + +But the Hebrew still remained immovable and sternly dumb. + +Unable to understand this, Bladud turned again to the old woman, but, +lo! the old woman was gone, and in her place stood Branwen, erect, with +the grey shawl thrown back, and a half-timid smile on her face. + +To say that Bladud was thunderstruck is not sufficient to indicate his +condition. He stood as if rooted to the spot with his whole being +concentrated in his wide-open blue eyes. + +"Is my presumption too great, Bladud?" asked the girl, hesitatingly. "I +did but wish to assure you that I have no other deceptions to practise. +That I fear--I hope--that--" + +The prince, recovering himself, sprang forward and once again stopped +her mouth--not with his hand; oh! by no means!--while Beniah, with that +refinement of wisdom which is the prerogative of age, stepped out to +ascertain whether it happened to be rain or sunshine that ruled at the +time. Curiously enough he found that it was the latter. + +That evening the doctor of the royal household was summoned by an +affrighted servitor to the apartment of Gadarn, who had been overheard +choking. The alarmed man of medicine went at once, and, bursting into +the room without knocking, found the great northern chief sitting on the +edge of his couch purple in the face and with tears in his eyes. The +exasperated man leaped up intending to kick the doctor out, but, +changing his mind, he kicked the horrified servitor out instead, and, +taking the doctor into his confidence, related to him an anecdote which +had just been told to him by Bladud. + +"It will be the death of the king," said Gadarn. "You had better go to +him. He may need your services." + +But the king was made of sterner stuff than his friend imagined. He put +strong constraint upon himself, and, being not easily overcome by +feeling--or anything else under the sun--he lived to relate the same +anecdote to his wife and daughter. + +The day following, Bladud resumed with the Hebrew the conversation that +had been interrupted by Branwen. + +"I was going to have said to you, Beniah, that I want your services very +much." + +"You had said that much, prince, before Bran--I mean Cor--that is, the +old woman--interrupted us. How can I serve you?" + +"By going back with me to the Hot Swamp and helping to carry out a grand +scheme that I have in my brain." + +The Hebrew shook his head. + +"I love not your grand schemes," he said, somewhat sternly. "The last +grand scheme that your father had was one which, if successfully carried +out, would have added a large portion of Albion to his dominions, and +would have swept several tribes off the face of the earth. As it was, +the mere effort to carry it out cost the lives of many of the best young +men on both sides, and left hundreds of mothers, wives, sisters, and +children to mourn their irreparable losses, and to wonder what all the +fighting was about. Indeed, there are not a few grey-bearded men who +share that wonder with the women and children, and who cannot, by any +effort of their imagination, see what advantage is gained by either +party when the fight is over." + +"These grey-beards must be thick-skulled, then," replied the prince with +a smile, "for does not the victor retain the land which he has +conquered?" + +"Yea, truly, and he also retains the tombs of the goodly young men who +have been slain, and also the widows and sweethearts, and the national +loss resulting from the war--for all which the land gained is but a +paltry return. Moreover, if the All-seeing One cared only for the +victors, there might be some understanding of the matter--though at the +cost of justice--but, seeing that He cares for the vanquished quite as +much as for the victorious, the gain on one side is counterbalanced by +the loss on the other side, while the world at large is all the poorer, +first, by the loss of much of its best blood, second, by the creation of +a vast amount of unutterable sorrow and bitter hatred, and, third, by a +tremendous amount of misdirected energy. + +"Look, for instance, at the Hot Swamp. Before the late war it was the +abode of a happy and prosperous population. Now, it is a desolation. +Hundreds of its youth are in premature graves, and nothing whatever has +been gained from it by your father that I can see." + +"But surely men must defend themselves and their women and children +against foes?" said Bladud. + +"Verily, I did not say they should not," replied Beniah. "Self-defence +is a duty; aggressive war, in most cases (I do not say in all), is a +blunder or a sin." + +"I think that my mind runs much on the same line with yours, Beniah, as +to these things, but I am pretty sure that a good many years will pass +over us before the warriors of the present day will see things in this +light." + +One is apt to smile at Bladud's prophetic observation, when one reflects +that about two thousand seven hundred years have elapsed since that day, +and warriors, as well as many civilians, have not managed to see it in +this light yet! + +"However," continued the prince, "the scheme which runs in my head is +not one of war--aggressive or defensive--but one of peace, for the +betterment of all mankind. As you know, I have begun to build a city at +the Hot Swamp, so that all who are sick may go to that beautiful country +and find health, as I did. And I want your help in this scheme." + +"That is well, prince, but I see not how I can aid you. I am not an +engineer, who could carry out your devices, nor an architect who could +plan your dwellings. And I am too old for manual labour--though, of +course, it is not for that you want me." + +"You are right, Beniah. It is not for that. I have as many strong and +willing hands to work as I require, but I want wise heads, full of years +and experience, which may aid me in council and guard me from the +blunders of youth and inexperience. Besides, man was not, it seems to +me, put into this world merely to enjoy himself. If he was, then are +the brutes his superiors, for they have no cares, no anxieties about +food or raiment, or housing, and they enjoy themselves to the full as +long as their little day lasts. There is surely some nobler end for +man, and as you have given much study to the works and ways and reputed +words of the All-seeing One, I want you to aid me in helping men to look +upward--to soar like the eagle above the things of earth, as well as to +consider the interests of others, and so, as far as may be, unlearn +selfishness. Will you join me for this end?" + +"That will I, with joy," answered the Hebrew with kindling eye; "but +your ambition soars high, prince. Have you spoken to Branwen on these +subjects?" + +"Of course I have, and she, like a true woman, enters heartily into my +plans. Like myself, she does not think that being wedded and happy is +the great end of life, but only the beginning of it. When the wedding +is over, our minds will then be set free to devote ourselves to the +great work before us." + +"And what duties in the work will fall to the lot of Branwen?" asked +Beniah, with an amused look. + +"The duties of a wife, of course," returned the prince. "She will lend +a sympathetic ear to all plans and proposals; her ingenious imagination +will suggest ideas that might escape my grosser mind; her brilliant +fancy will produce combinations that my duller brain would never think +of; her hopeful spirit will encourage me to perseverance where accident +or disaster has a tendency to demoralise, and her loving spirit will +comfort me should failure, great or small, be permitted to overtake me. +All this, I admit, sounds very selfish, but you asked me what part +Branwen should play in regard to _my_ schemes. If you had asked me what +part I am to play in her life and work, the picture might be inverted to +some extent--for our lives will be mutual--though, of course, I can +never be to her what she will be to me." + +With this exalted idea of the married state, Prince Bladud looked +forward to his wedding. Whether Dromas was imbued with similar ideas we +cannot tell; but of this we are sure, that he was equally devoted to the +princess--as far as outward appearance went--and he entered with keenest +zest and appreciation into the plans and aspirations of his friend, with +regard to the welfare of mankind in general, and the men of Albion in +particular. + +Not many days after that there was a double wedding at Hudibras town, +which created a tremendous sensation throughout all the land. For, +although news travelled slowly in those days, the fame of Bladud and his +wonderful cure, and his great size and athletic powers, coupled with his +Eastern learning, and warlike attainments and peaceful proclivities, not +to mention the beauty and romantic adventures of his bride, had made +such an impression on what may be styled the whole nation, that noted +chiefs came from all parts far and near, to his wedding, bringing as +many of their distinguished followers with them as they deemed necessary +to safe travelling in an unsettled country. Some even came from the +great western island called Erin, and others from the remote isle of the +north which lay beyond Gadarn's country, and was at a later period named +Ultima Thule. + +"I wonder when they're going to stop coming," remarked Gadarn to King +Hudibras, as the self-invited guests came pouring in. + +"Let them come," replied the jovial king, with the air of a man of +unlimited means. "The more the merrier. There's room for all, and the +forests are big." + +"Some of them, I see," rejoined Gadarn, "are my mortal foes. We shall +now have a chance of becoming mortal friends." + +It might be supposed that the assemblage of such a host from all points +of the compass would, as it is sometimes expressed, eat King Hudibras +out of house and home; but this was not so, for it was the custom at +that time for visitors at royal courts to hunt for their victuals--to go +in, as it were, for a grand picnic on a continuous basis, so that the +palace of our king, instead of being depleted, became surfeited with +food. As his preserves were extensive, and game of all kinds abundant, +the expense attendant on this kind of hospitality was _nil_. + +It would have been very much the reverse had it been necessary to supply +drink, but the art of producing liquids which fuddle, stupefy, and +madden, had not yet been learnt in this country. Consequently there was +no fighting or bloodshed at those jovial festivities, though there was a +certain amount of quarrelling--as might be expected amongst independent +men who held different opinions on many subjects, although politics and +theology had not yet been invented. + +Great were the rejoicings when it was discovered, by each band as it +arrived, that there was to be a double wedding; that the Princess +Hafrydda was to be one of the brides, and that the fortunate man who had +won her was a famous warrior of the mysterious East, and one of the +victors at the great games of that part of the world. + +How the ceremony of marriage was performed we have not, after the most +painstaking research, been able to ascertain; but that it was performed +somehow, and to the satisfaction of all concerned, we are absolutely +certain, from the fact that Bladud and Branwen, Dromas and Hafrydda, +lived happily together as man and wife for many years afterwards, and +brought up large families of stalwart sons and daughters to strengthen +the power and increase the prestige of Old Albion. + +This, however, by the way. Of course the chief amusement of the guests +was games, followed by songs and dancing in the evenings. And one of +the favourite amusements at the games was scientific boxing, for that +was an entirely new art to the warriors, alike of Albion, Erin, and +Ultima Thule. + +It first burst upon their senses as a new and grand idea when Bladud and +Dromas, at the urgent request of their friends, stepped into the arena +and gave a specimen of the manner in which the art was practised in +Hellas. Of course they did not use what we call knuckle-dusters, nor +did they even double their fists, except when moving round each other, +and as "gloves" were unknown, they struck out with the hands half open, +for they had no wish to bleed each other's noses or black each other's +eyes for mere amusement. + +At the beginning it was thought that Dromas was no match at all for the +gigantic Bladud, but when the wonderful agility of the former was seen-- +the ease with which he ducked and turned aside his head to evade blows, +and the lightning speed with which he countered, giving a touch on the +forehead or a dig in the ribs, smiling all the time as if to say, "How +d'ye like it?" men's minds changed with shouts of surprise and +satisfaction. And they highly approved of the way in which the +champions smilingly shook hands after the bout was over--as they had +done before it began. + +They did not, however, perceive the full value of the art until an +ambitious young chief from Ultima Thule--a man of immense size and +rugged mould with red hair--insisted on Dromas giving him a lesson. The +man from Hellas declined at first, but the man from Thule was urgent, +and there seemed to be a feeling among the warriors that the young +Hellene was afraid. + +"It is so difficult," he explained, "to hit lightly and swiftly that +sometimes an unintentionally hard blow is given, and men are apt to lose +their tempers." + +This was received with a loud laugh by the Thuler. + +"What! _I_ lose my temper on account of a friendly buffet! Besides, I +shall take care not to hit hard--you need not fear." + +"As you will," returned Dromas, with a good-humoured smile. + +The Thuler stood up and allowed his instructor to put him in the correct +attitude. Then the latter faced him and said, "Now, guard yourself." + +Next moment his left hand shot out and gently touched his opponent's +nose. The Thuler received the touch with what he deemed an orthodox +smile and tried to guard it after it had been delivered. + +Then he struck out with his left--being an apt pupil--but Dromas drew +back and the blow did not reach him. Then he struck out smartly with +his right, but the Hellene put his head to one side and let it pass. +Again he struck out rapidly, one hand after the other, without much care +whether the blows were light or heavy. Dromas evaded both without +guarding, and, in reply, gave the Thuler a smartish touch on his +unfortunate nose. + +This was received by the assemblage with a wild shout of surprise and +delight, and the Thuler became grave; collected himself as if for real +business, and suddenly let out a shower of blows which, had they taken +effect, would soon have ended the match, but his blows only fell on air, +for Dromas evaded them with ease, returning every now and then a tap on +the old spot or a touch on the forehead. At last, seeing that the man +was losing temper, he gave him a sharp dig in the wind which caused him +to gasp, and a sounding buffet on the cheek which caused him to howl +with rage and feel for the hilt of his sword. That dangerous weapon, +however, had been judiciously removed by his friends. He therefore +rushed at his antagonist, resolved to annihilate him, but was received +with two genuine blows--one in the wind, the other on the forehead, +which stretched him on the sward. + +The Thuler rose therefrom with a dazed look, and accepted the Hellene's +friendly shake of the hand with an unmeaning smile. + +After the sports had continued for several days King Hudibras proposed +an excursion--a sort of gigantic picnic--to the Hot Swamp, where Bladud +and his friend had made up their mind to spend their honeymoon. + +Arrived there, they found that immense progress had been made with the +new city--insomuch that Dromas assured Hafrydda that it brought to his +mind some very ancient fables of great cities rising spontaneously from +the ground to the sound of pipes played by the gods. + +The baths, too, were in such an advanced stage that they were able to +fill them on the arrival of the host and allow the interested and +impatient chiefs to bathe. + +"Don't let them go in till you give the signal that the baths are +ready," said Gadarn to the king in that grave, suppressed manner which +indicated that the northern chief was inclined to mischief. + +"Why?" asked the king. + +"Because, as I understand, you love fair play and no favour. It would +not be fair to let some begin before others. They might feel it, you +know, and quarrel." + +"Very well, so be it," returned the king, and gave orders that no one +was to go near the baths until they were quite full, when he would give +the signal. + +The chiefs and warriors entering into the spirit of the thing, took +quite a boyish delight in stripping themselves and preparing for a rush. + +"Now, are you ready?" said the king. + +"Ay, all ready." + +"Away, then!" + +The warlike host rushed to the brink of the largest bath and plunged +in--some head, others feet, first. But they came out almost as fast as +they went in--yelling and spluttering--for the water was much too hot! + +"Ah! I see now," growled the king, turning to Gadarn--but Gadarn was +gone. He found him, a minute later, behind a bush, in fits! + +Pacifying the warriors with some difficulty--for they were a hot-headed +generation--the king, being directed by Bladud, ordered the water from +the cold lake to be turned on until the bath became bearable. Then the +warriors re-entered it again more sedately. The warm water soon +restored their equanimity, and ere long the unusual sight was to be seen +of bearded men and smooth chins, rugged men and striplings, rolling +about like porpoises, shouting, laughing, and indulging in horse-play +like veritable boys. + +Truly warmth has much to do with the felicity of mankind! + +Towards afternoon the warriors were ordered to turn out, and, after the +water had been allowed to run till it was clear, King Hudibras descended +into it with much gravity and a good deal of what was in those ages +considered to be ceremonial effect. This was done by way of taking +formal possession of the Hot Springs. He was greatly cheered during the +process by the admiring visitors, as well as physically by the hot +water, and it is said that while his son Bladud was dutifully rubbing +him down in the neighbouring booth, he remarked that it was the best +bath he ever had in his life, that he would visit the place periodically +as long as he lived, and that a palace must be built there for his +accommodation. + +From that day the bath was named the "King's Bath," and it is so named +at the present day. + +Soon after that the queen visited the Swamp and, with her ladies, made +use of the bath which had been specially prepared for women; and this +one went by the name of the "Queen's Bath" thereafter. Its site, +however, is not now certainly known, and it is not to be confounded with +the "Queen's Bath" of the present day, which was named after Queen Anne. + +Prince Bladud lived to carry out most of his plans. He built a palace +for his father in Swamptown. He built a palace for himself and Branwen, +with a wing to it for Dromas and Hafrydda, and took up his permanent +abode there when he afterwards became king. At the death of his father +he added another wing for the queen-mother--with internal doors opening +from each wing to the other, in order that they might live, so to speak, +as one family. This arrangement worked admirably until the families +became large, and the younger members obstreperous, when the internal +doors were occasionally, even frequently, shut. He also built a snug +house for Konar, and made him Hunter-General to the Royal Household. It +is said that, owing to the genial influence of Bladud's kind nature, +Konar recovered his reason, and, forgetting the false fair-one who had +jilted him, took to himself a helpmate who more than made up for her +loss. + +Captain Arkal soon found that his passion for hot water cooled. As it +did so, his love for salt water revived. He returned to Hellas, and, +after paying his respects to his pretty Greek wife, and dandling the +solid, square, bluff, and resolute baby, he reloaded his ship and +returned to Albion. Thus he went and came for many years. + +Little Maikar, however, did not follow his example. True, he +accompanied his old captain on his first trip to Hellas, but that was +for the purpose of getting possession of a dark-eyed maiden who awaited +him there; with whom he returned to Swamptown, and, in that lovely +region, spent the remainder of his life. + +Even Addedomar was weaned from outlawry to honesty by the irresistible +solicitations of Bladud, and as, in modern times, many an incorrigible +poacher makes a first-rate gamekeeper, so the robber-chief became an +able head-huntsman under the Hunter-General. The irony of Fate decreed, +however, that the man who had once contemplated three wives was not to +marry at all. He dwelt with his mother Ortrud to the end of her days in +a small house not far from the residence of Konar. Gunrig's mother also +dwelt with them--not that she had any particular regard for them +personally, but in order that she might be near to the beautiful girl +who had been beloved by her son. + +Gadarn, the great northern chief, ever afterwards paid an annual visit +to Swamptown. While that visit lasted there was a general feeling in +the palace--especially among the young people--that a jovial hurricane +was blowing. During the daytime the gale made itself felt in loud +hilarious laughter, song, and story. At night it blew steadily through +his nose. After his departure an unaccountable calm seemed to settle +down upon the whole region! + +Beniah performed with powerful effect the task allotted to him, for, +both by precept and example, he so set forth and obeyed the laws of God +that the tone of society was imperceptibly elevated. Men came to know, +and to act upon the knowledge, that this world was not their rest; that +there is a better life beyond, and, in the contemplation of that life, +they, somehow, made this life more agreeable to themselves and to each +other. + +Time, which never intermits the beating of his fateful wings, flew by; +the centuries rolled on; the Roman invaders came; the Norsemen and +Saxons came, the Norman conquerors came, and each left their mark, deep +and lasting, on the people and on the land--but they could not check by +one hair's-breadth the perennial flow of the springs in the Hot Swamp, +or obliterate the legend on which is founded this Romance of Old Albion. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hot Swamp, by R.M. 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