r him a good successor to herd his
pigs. He also asked him if he would agree to act as hunter to his
party, as he intended to remain in that region and build a small town
beside the springs, so that people afflicted with the disease from which
he had suffered, or any similar disease, might come and be cured.

Konar agreed at once, for a new light burst upon him, and the idea of
living to serve other people, and not merely to feed himself, seemed to
put new life into him.

"Do you really mean to build a town here?" asked Dromas, when he heard
his friend giving orders to his men to erect a large booth to shelter
them all for some time to come.

"Indeed, I do. So thankful am I, Dromas, for this cure, that I feel
impelled to induce others to come and share the blessing. I only wish I
could hope that you would stay in Albion and aid me. But I suppose
there is some fair one in Hellas who might object to that."

"No fair one that I know of," returned Dromas, with a laugh, "and as I
have left neither kith nor kin at home, there is nothing to prevent my
taking the proposal into consideration."

"That is good news indeed. So, then, I will ask you to come along with
me just now, and mayhap you will make up your mind while we walk. I go
to fix on a site for the new town, and to set the men to work."

That day the voices of toilers, and the sound of hatchets and the crash
of falling trees, were heard in the neighbourhood of the Hot Swamp,
while the prince and his friend examined the localities around in the
immediate vicinity of the fountain-head.

On coming to the fountain itself, the young men paused to look at it, as
it welled up from the earth. So hot was it that they could not endure
to hold their hands in it, and in such volumes did it rise, that it
overflowed its large natural basin continually, and converted a large
tract of ground into a morass, while finding its way, by many rills and
channels, into the adjacent river.

"What a singular work of Nature!" remarked Dromas.

"Why not say--a wonderful work of God?" replied the prince.

"Come now, my friend, let us not begin again our old discussions. What
was suitable for the groves of Hellas is not appropriate to the swamps
of Albion!"

"I agree not with that, Dromas."

"You were ever ready to disagree, Bladud."

"Nay, not exactly to disagree, but to argue. However, I will fall in
with your humour just now, and wait for what you may deem a more fitting