gh the woods in company with Cormac, and with Brownie--that
faithful friend who had lain by his master's side during all his
illness. The sparkling river gladdened the eyes, and the bracing air
and sunshine strengthened the frame of the prince, so that with the
cheerful conversation of Cormac and the gambols of his canine friend he
was sometimes led to forget for a time the dark cloud that hung over
him.

One day he was struck by something in the appearance of his dog, and,
sitting down on a bank, he called it to him. After a few minutes'
careful examination he turned to Cormac with a look of deep anxiety.

"My boy," he said, "I verily believe that the hound is smitten with my
own complaint. In his faithful kindness he has kept by me until I have
infected him."

"That cannot be," returned Cormac, "for, during my rambles alone, when
you were too ill to move, I saw that a great many of the pigs were
affected by a skin disease something like that on the dog, and, you
know, you could not have infected the pigs, for you have never touched
them."

Bladud's anxiety was not removed but deepened when he heard this, for he
called to remembrance the occasion when he had rescued one of the little
pigs and carried it for some distance in his arms.

"And, do you know," continued the lad, "I have observed a strange thing.
I have seen that many of the pigs, affected with this complaint, have
gone down to the place where the hot waters rise, and, after bathing
there, have returned all covered with mud, and these pigs seem to have
got better of the disease, while many of those which did not go down to
the swamp have died."

"That is strange indeed," returned the prince; "I must see to this, for
if these waters cure the pigs, why not the dog?"

"Ay," rejoined Cormac, "and why not the man?"

"Because my disease is well known to be incurable."

"Are you sure?"

"We can hardly be sure of anything, not even of killing our mid-day
meal," rejoined the prince. "See, there goes a bird that is big enough
to do for both of us. Try your hand."

"That will be but losing an opportunity, for, as you know, I am not a
good marksman," returned the youth, fitting an arrow quickly to his bow
nevertheless, and discharging it. Although the bird in question was
large and not far off, the arrow missed the mark, but startled the bird
so that it took wing. Before it had risen a yard from the ground,
however, an arrow from Bladud's bow transfi