for--it is impossible that--"

Here the Hebrew choked again with some violence.

"Have a care, man!" cried the prince in some alarm. "However hungry a
man may be, he should take time to swallow. You seem to be
contradicting yourself, but I don't wonder, in the circumstances."

"Verily, I wonder at nothing, in the circumstances, for they are
perplexing--even distressing," returned the Hebrew with a sigh, as he
wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his coat.

"Better not speak with your mouth full, then. Ah! poor Gadarn," said
Bladud, in an obviously indifferent tone of voice. "I'm sorry for him.
Girls like his daughter, who are self-willed, and given to running away,
are a heavy affliction to parents. And, truly, I ought to feel sympathy
with him, for, although I am seeking for a youth of very different
character, we are both so far engaged in similar work--search for the
lost. And what of my father, mother, and sister?"

"All hale and hearty!" replied Beniah, with a sigh of relief, "and all
anxious for your return, especially Hafrydda."

At this point Dromas looked at the speaker with deepened interest.

"She is a good girl, your sister," continued Beniah, "and greatly taken
up just now with that old woman you met in my cave. Hafrydda has
strange fancies."

"She might have worse fancies than being taken up with poor old women,"
returned the prince. "I'm rather fond of them myself, and was
particularly attracted by the old woman referred to. She was--what!
choking again, Beniah? Come, I think you have had enough for one meal.
And so have we all, friends, therefore we had better away to roost if we
are to be up betimes in the morning."

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

BLADUD'S RETURN AND TRIALS.

We need scarcely say that there was joy at the court of King Hudibras
when Bladud returned home, cured of his terrible disease.

The first person whom the prince hurried off to visit, after seeing his
father, and embracing his mother and sister, was the northern chief
Gadarn. That jovial character was enjoying a siesta after the mid-day
meal at the time, but willingly arose on the prince being announced.

"Glad to see you, Gadarn," said Bladud, entering the room that had been
apportioned to the chief, and sitting down on a bench for visitors,
which, according to custom, stood against the inner wall of the
apartment. "I hope your head is clear and your arm strong."

"Both are as they should be," answered Gadarn, ret