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?"