ay 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 we