ho are afraid of a drop of water, and who hastened
back to the palace. As they are all safe, I shall not worry. Let us
hasten to the pavilion ourselves, because I am ravenously hungry." And
remounting his horse, the Emperor added: "We shall find at the pavilion
the damsels who have preferred to sup with their father. The
stout-hearted lasses shall be well feasted, and I shall bestow rich
presents upon them."

Seeing that Charles was manifesting some slight uneasiness on the score
of his daughters, Amael, in turn, began to feel preoccupied with regard
to Vortigern, whom, for some time, he had been searching for with his
eyes among the groups of the approaching knights. As his eyes fell upon
Octave, who just then came running in at a gallop, the aged Breton
inquired from him with no little anxiety:

"Octave, have you seen my grandson anywhere?"

"We parted company almost at the very start of the hunt."

"He is not with us," proceeded Amael with increasing uneasiness. "Night
is here and he is not familiar with the paths of the forest."

"Oh! Oh! seigneur Breton," put in the Emperor of the Franks, who,
immediately upon remounting his horse, had drawn near the aged man and
overheard his question to the young Roman, "you seem to feel uneasy
about your youngster. Well, what if he should have lost his way this
evening? He will find it again to-morrow. Do you fear he will die of one
night spent in the forest? Is not hunting the school of war? Come, come!
Be at ease. Besides, who knows," added Charles with a roguish air.
"Mayhap he encountered some pretty woodcutter's daughter in some of the
huts of the forest. It is like his years. You surely do not mean to make
a monk of him? Pretty lassies are meant for handsome lads."

CHAPTER X.

EMPEROR AND HOSTAGE.

Led by the Emperor of the Franks, the cavalcade of hunters rode towards
the pavilion where supper was to be partaken of before the return to
Aix-la-Chapelle. Charles called Amael to his side, and noticing, as they
rode, that the aged Breton continued preoccupied about Vortigern, the
Emperor turned to the centenarian with a merry twinkle in his eye:

"What do you think of this day? Have you recovered from your prejudices
against Charles the Fighter? Do you think me at all worthy to govern my
Empire, a domain as vast as the old Empire of Rome? Do you deem me
worthy of reigning over the population of Armorica?"

"Charles, in my youth your grandfather proposed to