e, I
could perhaps help you . . . " "What is that you say? I can't hear you.
I will kneel down;" and he flung himself on the ground, and placed his
ear close to my mouth. "Now speak if you can. Hey! what! no, sure, God
forbid!" then starting up, he cried to a female who sat in the cart,
anxiously looking on--"Gwenwyn! gwenwyn! yw y gwas wedi ei gwenwynaw. The
oil! Winifred, the oil!"

CHAPTER LXXII

Desired Effect--The Three Oaks--Winifred--Things of Time--With God's
Will--The Preacher--Creature Comforts--Croesaw--Welsh and English--Mayor
of Chester.

The oil, which the strangers compelled me to take, produced the desired
effect, though, during at least two hours, it was very doubtful whether
or not my life would be saved. At the end of that period the man said,
that with the blessing of God, he would answer for my life. He then
demanded whether I thought I could bear to be removed from the place in
which we were, "for I like it not," he continued, "as something within me
tells me that it is not good for any of us to be here." I told him, as
well as I was able, that I, too, should be glad to leave the place;
whereupon, after collecting my things, he harnessed my pony, and, with
the assistance of the woman, he contrived to place me in the cart; he
then gave me a draught out of a small phial, and we set forward at a slow
pace, the man walking by the side of the cart in which I lay. It is
probable that the draught consisted of a strong opiate, for after
swallowing it I fell into a deep slumber; on my awaking, I found that the
shadows of night had enveloped the earth--we were still moving on.
Shortly, however, after descending a declivity, we turned into a lane, at
the entrance of which was a gate. This lane conducted to a meadow,
through the middle of which ran a small brook; it stood between two
rising grounds; that on the left, which was on the farther side of the
water, was covered with wood, whilst the one on the right, which was not
so high, was crowned with the white walls of what appeared to be a
farmhouse.

Advancing along the meadow, we presently came to a place where grew three
immense oaks, almost on the side of the brook, over which they flung
their arms, so as to shade it as with a canopy; the ground beneath was
bare of grass, and nearly as hard and smooth as the floor of a barn.
Having led his own cart on one side of the midmost tree, and my own on
the other, the stranger said to me, "