lt 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