th of us.'

'One more blow, I know where his head lies.'

'You are mad, bebee; leave the fellow--gorgio avella.'

And thereupon the females hurried away.

A vehicle of some kind was evidently drawing nigh; in a little time it
came alongside of the place where lay the fallen tent, and stopped
suddenly. There was a silence for a moment, and then a parley ensued
between two voices, one of which was that of a woman. It was not in
English, but in a deep guttural tongue.

'Peth yw hono sydd yn gorwedd yna ar y ddaear?' said a masculine voice.

'Yn wirionedd--I do not know what it can be,' said the female voice, in
the same tongue.

'Here is a cart, and there are tools; but what is that on the ground?'

'Something moves beneath it; and what was that--a groan?'

'Shall I get down?'

'Of course, Peter, some one may want your help?

'Then I will get down, though I do not like this place; it is frequented
by Egyptians, and I do not like their yellow faces, nor their clibberty
clabber, as Master Ellis Wyn says. Now I am down. It is a tent,
Winifred, and see, here is a boy beneath it. Merciful father! what a
face.'

A middle-aged man, with a strongly marked and serious countenance,
dressed in sober-coloured habiliments, had lifted up the stifling folds
of the tent, and was bending over me. 'Can you speak, my lad?' said he
in English; 'what is the matter with you? if you could but tell me, 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