toward the encampment with a somewhat dejected air.

"No wonder you look surprised," he said, on arriving. "The other side
of that ridge is a sheer precipice, down which I might have gone if I
had possessed wings. There was no track visible anywhere, but of course
there must have been a well-concealed one somewhere, for soon after I
reached the top I saw the young wild-cat running over the plain far
below. On coming to the edge of a long stretch of forest, he stopped
and capered about like a monkey. I could see, even at that distance,
that he was making faces at me by way of saying farewell. Then he
entered the woods, and that was the end of him."

"I wish it was the end of him," observed the captain, with something
like a growl--for his voice was very deep, and he had a tendency to
mutter when disturbed in temper. "The monkey will be sure to run home
and tell what he's seen, and so bring all his tribe about our ears."

"Ay, not only his tribe," remarked Maikar, "but his uncles, brothers,
fathers, nephews, and all his kin to the latest walkable generation."

"Are your weapons ready?" asked Bladud, taking up his sword and putting
on his helmet.

"All ready," answered the captain, beginning to collect things--"I have
just finished two head-pieces out of the boar-hide for myself and
Maikar, which will turn an arrow or a sword-cut, unless delivered by a
strong arm. Don't you think them handsome?"

"They are suitable, at any rate," said Maikar, "for they are as ugly as
our faces."

"Come, then, we must make haste, for wild men are not slow to act,"
rejoined Bladud. "By good fortune our way does not lie in the direction
the boy took. We shall get as far away from them as possible, and
travel during the night."

In a few minutes the little party--by that time fully equipped for the
chase or war--were hurrying down the hillside in the direction of the
setting sun. It was growing late in the evening, and as they reached
the bottom, they had to cross a meadow which was rather swampy, so that
their feet sank in some parts over the ankles.

"I say, guide," observed Maikar, who, like his nautical commander, had
small respect for rank, and addressed the prince by what he deemed an
appropriate title, "it has just come into my head that we are leaving a
tremendous trail behind us. We seafaring men are not used to trouble
our heads on that score, for our ships leave no track on the waves, but
it is not so on the la