"Not so very easily, sir; I have often my quakings and fears, but then I read my Bible, say my prayers, and find hope and comfort."
"I really am very glad to have seen you," said I; "and now can you tell me the way to the bridge?"
"Not exactly, sir, for I have never been there, but you must follow this road some way farther, and then bear away to the right along yon hill"-and he pointed to a distant mountain.
I thanked him, and proceeded on my way. I pa.s.sed through a deep dingle, and shortly afterwards came to the termination of the road; remembering, however, the directions of the old man, I bore away to the right, making for the distant mountain. My course lay now over very broken ground, where there was no path-at least that I could perceive. I wandered on for some time; at length, on turning round a bluff, I saw a lad tending a small herd of bullocks. "Am I in the road," said I, "to the Pont y Gwr Drwg?"
"Nis gwn! I don"t know," said he sullenly. "I am a hired servant, and have only been here a little time."
"Where"s the house," said I, "where you serve?"
But as he made no answer I left him. Some way further on I saw a house on my left, a little way down the side of a deep dingle, which was partly overhung with trees, and at the bottom of which a brook murmured.
Descending a steep path, I knocked at the door. After a little time it was opened, and two women appeared, one behind the other. The first was about sixty; she was very powerfully made, had stern grey eyes and harsh features, and was dressed in the ancient Welsh female fashion, having a kind of riding-habit of blue, and a high conical hat like that of the Tyrol. The other seemed about twenty years younger; she had dark features, was dressed like the other, but had no hat. I saluted the first in English, and asked her the way to the Bridge. Whereupon she uttered a deep guttural "augh" and turned away her head, seemingly in abhorrence. I then spoke to her in Welsh, saying I was a foreign man-I did not say a Saxon-was bound to the Devil"s Bridge, and wanted to know the way. The old woman surveyed me sternly for some time, then turned to the other and said something, and the two began to talk to each other, but in a low, buzzing tone, so that I could not distinguish a word. In about half-a-minute the eldest turned to me, and extending her arm, and spreading out her five fingers wide, motioned to the side of the hill in the direction which I had been following.
"If I go that way shall I get to the bridge of the evil man?" said I; but got no other answer than a furious grimace and violent agitations of the arm and fingers in the same direction. I turned away, and scarcely had I done so when the door was slammed to behind me with great force, and I heard two "aughs," one not quite so deep and abhorrent as the other, probably proceeding from the throat of the younger female.
"Two regular Saxon-hating Welsh women," said I, philosophically; "just the same sort, no doubt, as those who played such pranks on the slain bodies of the English soldiers, after the victory achieved by Glendower over Mortimer on the Severn"s side."
I proceeded in the direction indicated, winding round the side of the hill, the same mountain which the old man had pointed out to me some time before. At length, on making a turn, I saw a very lofty mountain in the far distance to the south-west, a hill right before me to the south, and on my left a meadow overhung by the southern hill, in the middle of which stood a house, from which proceeded a violent barking of dogs. I would fain have made immediately up to it for the purpose of inquiring my way, but saw no means of doing so, a high precipitous bank lying between it and me. I went forward and ascended the side of the hill before me, and presently came to a path running east and west. I followed it a little way towards the east. I was now just above the house, and saw some children and some dogs standing beside it. Suddenly I found myself close to a man who stood in a hollow part of the road from which a narrow path led down to the house; a donkey with panniers stood beside him. He was about fifty years of age, with a carbuncled countenance, high but narrow forehead, grey eyebrows, and small, malignant grey eyes. He had a white hat with narrow eaves, and the crown partly knocked out, a torn blue coat, corduroy breeches, long stockings and high-lows. He was sucking a cutty pipe, but seemed unable to extract any smoke from it. He had all the appearance of a vagabond, and of a rather dangerous vagabond. I nodded to him, and asked him in Welsh the name of the place. He glared at me malignantly, then taking the pipe out of his mouth, said that he did not know, that he had been down below to inquire and light his pipe, but could get neither light nor answer from the children. I asked him where he came from, but he evaded the question by asking where I was going to.
"To the Pont y Gwr Drwg," said I.
He then asked me if I was an Englishman.
"O yes!" said I, "I am Carn Sais;" whereupon with a strange mixture in his face of malignity and contempt, he answered in English that he didn"t understand me.
"You understood me very well," said I, without changing my language, "till I told you I was an Englishman. Harkee, man with the broken hat, you are one of the bad Welsh, who don"t like the English to know the language, lest they should discover your lies and rogueries." He evidently understood what I said, for he gnashed his teeth though he said nothing. "Well," said I, "I shall go down to those children and inquire the name of the house," and I forthwith began to descend the path, the fellow uttering a contemptuous "humph" behind me, as much as to say, much you"ll make out down there. I soon reached the bottom, and advanced towards the house. The dogs had all along been barking violently; as I drew near to them, however, they ceased, and two of the largest came forward wagging their tails. "The dogs were not barking at me," said I, "but at that vagabond above." I went up to the children; they were four in number, two boys and two girls, all red-haired, but tolerably good-looking. They had neither shoes nor stockings. "What is the name of this house?" said I to the eldest, a boy about seven years old. He looked at me, but made no answer. I repeated my question; still there was no answer, but methought I heard a humph of triumph from the hill.
"Don"t crow quite yet, old chap," thought I to myself, and putting my hand into my pocket, I took out a penny; and offering it to the child, said, "Now, small man, Peth wy y enw y lle hwn?" Instantly the boy"s face became intelligent, and putting out the fat little hand, he took the ceiniog, and said in an audible whisper, "Waen y Bwlch." "I am all right," said I to myself, "that is one of the names of the places which the old ostler said I must go through." Then addressing myself to the child, I said, "Where"s your father and mother?"
"Out on the hill," whispered the child.
"What"s your father?"
"A shepherd."
"Good," said I. "Now can you tell me the way to the bridge of the evil man?" But the features became blank, the finger was put to the mouth, and the head was hung down. That question was evidently beyond the child"s capacity. "Thank you!" said I, and turning round, I regained the path on the top of the bank. The fellow and his donkey were still there.
"I had no difficulty," said I, "in obtaining information; the place"s name is Waen y Bwlch. But oes genoch dim c.u.mraeg-you have no Welsh."
Thereupon I proceeded along the path in the direction of the east.
Forthwith the fellow said something to his animal, and both came following fast behind. I quickened my pace, but the fellow and his beast were close in my rear. Presently I came to a place where another path branched off to the south. I stopped, looked at it, and then went on, but scarcely had done so when I heard another exulting "humph" behind.
"I am going wrong," said I to myself; "that other path is the way to the Devil"s Bridge, and the scamp knows it, or he would not have grunted."
Forthwith I faced round, and brushing past the fellow without a word turned into the other path and hurried along it. By a side glance which I cast I could see him staring after me; presently, however, he uttered a sound very much like a Welsh curse, and kicking his beast proceeded on his way, and I saw no more of him. In a little time I came to a slough which crossed the path. I did not like the look of it at all; and to avoid it ventured upon some green mossy-looking ground to the left, and had scarcely done so when I found myself immersed to the knees in a bog.
I, however, pushed forward, and with some difficulty got to the path on the other side of the slough. I followed the path, and in about half-an-hour saw what appeared to be houses at a distance. "G.o.d grant that I may be drawing near some inhabited place," said I. The path now grew very miry, and there were pools of water on either side. I moved along slowly. At length I came to a place where some men were busy in erecting a kind of building. I went up to the nearest and asked him the name of the place. He had a crow-bar in his hand, was half-naked, had a wry mouth and only one eye. He made me no answer, but moved and gibbered at me.
"For G.o.d"s sake," said I, "don"t do so, but tell me where I am!" He still uttered no word, but mowed and gibbered yet more frightfully than before. As I stood staring at him another man came to me and said in broken English, "It is of no use speaking to him, sir, he is deaf and dumb."
"I am glad he is no worse," said I, "for I really thought he was possessed with the evil one. My good person, can you tell me the name of this place?"
"Esgyrn Hirion, sir," said he.
"Esgyrn Hirion," said I to myself; "Esgyrn means bones, and Hirion means long. I am doubtless at the place which the old ostler called Long Bones. I shouldn"t wonder if I get to the Devil"s Bridge to-night after all." I then asked the man if he could tell me the way to the bridge of the evil man, but he shook his head and said that he had never heard of such a place, adding, however, that he would go with me to one of the overseers, who could perhaps direct me. He then proceeded towards a row of buildings, which were in fact those objects which I had guessed to be houses in the distance. He led me to a corner house, at the door of which stood a middle-aged man, dressed in a grey coat, and saying to me, "This person is an overseer," returned to his labour. I went up to the man, and saluting him in English, asked whether he could direct me to the devil"s bridge, or rather to Pont Erwyd.
"It would be of no use directing you, sir," said he, "for with all the directions in the world it would be impossible for you to find the way.
You would not have left these premises five minutes before you would be in a maze, without knowing which way to turn. Where do you come from?"
"From Machynlleth," I replied.
"From Machynlleth!" said he. "Well, I only wonder you ever got here, but it would be madness to go further alone."
"Well," said I, "can I obtain a guide?"
"I really don"t know," said he; "I am afraid all the men are engaged."
As we were speaking a young man made his appearance at the door from the interior of the house. He was dressed in a brown short coat, had a glazed hat on his head, and had a pale but very intelligent countenance.
"What is the matter?" said he to the other man.
"This gentleman," replied the latter, "is going to Pont Erwyd, and wants a guide."
"Well," said the young man, "we must find him one. It will never do to let him go by himself."
"If you can find me a guide," said I, "I shall be happy to pay him for his trouble."
"O, you can do as you please about that," said the young man; "but, pay or not, we would never suffer you to leave this place without a guide, and as much for our own sake as yours, for the directors of the company would never forgive us if they heard we had suffered a gentleman to leave these premises without a guide, more especially if he were lost, as it is a hundred to one you would be if you went by yourself."
"Pray," said I, "what company is this, the directors of which are so solicitous about the safety of strangers?"
"The Potosi Mining Company," said he, "the richest in all Wales. But pray walk in and sit down, for you must be tired."
CHAPTER Lx.x.xI
The Mining Compting Room-Native of Aberystwyth-Story of a Bloodhound-The Young Girls-The Miner"s Tale-Gwen Frwd-The Terfyn.
I followed the young man with the glazed hat into a room, the other man following behind me. He of the glazed hat made me sit down before a turf fire, apologising for its smoking very much. The room seemed half compting room, half apartment. There was a wooden desk with a ledger upon it by the window which looked to the west, and a camp bedstead extended from the southern wall nearly up to the desk. After I had sat for about a minute the young man asked me if I would take any refreshment. I thanked him for his kind offer, which I declined, saying, however, that if he would obtain me a guide I should feel much obliged.
He turned to the other man and told him to go and inquire whether there was any one who would be willing to go. The other nodded, and forthwith went out.
"You think, then," said I, "that I could not find the way by myself?"
"I am sure of it," said he, "for even the people best acquainted with the country frequently lose their way. But I must tell you that if we do find you a guide it will probably be one who has no English."
"Never mind," said I, "I have enough Welsh to hold a common discourse."
A fine girl about fourteen now came in, and began bustling about.
"Who is this young lady?" said I.