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.