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 a.n.a.logy 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 a.s.sociated 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 a.s.sumption 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 pa.s.sion 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.