The Hot Swamp by Robert Michael Ballantyne (audio ebook reader txt) 📖

as we know, in exactly the same place, should be found"--(here the chief had another fit of sneezing)--"be found together. At any rate, I remain here, for a time at least. My old friend Dromas will remain with me, and some of my father's men."

As Gadarn could not induce the prince to alter his decision, and, for reasons of his own, did not choose to enlighten him, they parted there-- the chief setting off with his troops in the direction of Hudibras' town, and the prince returning to his booth, accompanied by Captain Arkal, little Maikar, the hunter of the Hot Swamp, and about thirty of his father's men, who had elected to stay with him.

"As I am now cured, good Konar," said Bladud to the hunter, while returning to the booth, "and as I have enough to do in searching for my lost friend, I fear that I must end my service with you, and make over the pigs to some other herd."

"As you please, prince," returned the eccentric hunter with the utmost coolness, "the pigs were well able to look after themselves before you came, and, doubtless, they will be not less able after you go."

Bladud laughed, and, putting his hand kindly on the man's shoulder, assured him that he would find for him a good successor to herd his pigs. He also asked him if he would agree to act as hunter to his party, as he intended to remain in that region and build a small town beside the springs, so that people afflicted with the disease from which he had suffered, or any similar disease, might come and be cured.

Konar agreed at once, for a new light burst upon him, and the idea of living to serve other people, and not merely to feed himself, seemed to put new life into him.

"Do you really mean to build a town here?" asked Dromas, when he heard his friend giving orders to his men to erect a large booth to shelter them all for some time to come.

"Indeed, I do. So thankful am I, Dromas, for this cure, that I feel impelled to induce others to come and share the blessing. I only wish I could hope that you would stay in Albion and aid me. But I suppose there is some fair one in Hellas who might object to that."

"No fair one that I know of," returned Dromas, with a laugh, "and as I have left neither kith nor kin at home, there is nothing to prevent my taking the proposal into consideration."

"That is good news indeed. So, then, I will ask you to come along with me just now, and mayhap you will make up your mind while we walk. I go to fix on a site for the new town, and to set the men to work."

That day the voices of toilers, and the sound of hatchets and the crash of falling trees, were heard in the neighbourhood of the Hot Swamp, while the prince and his friend examined the localities around in the immediate vicinity of the fountain-head.

On coming to the fountain itself, the young men paused to look at it, as it welled up from the earth. So hot was it that they could not endure to hold their hands in it, and in such volumes did it rise, that it overflowed its large natural basin continually, and converted a large tract of ground into a morass, while finding its way, by many rills and channels, into the adjacent river.

"What a singular work of Nature!" remarked Dromas.

"Why not say--a wonderful work of God?" replied the prince.

"Come now, my friend, let us not begin again our old discussions. What was suitable for the groves of Hellas is not appropriate to the swamps of Albion!"

"I agree not with that, Dromas."

"You were ever ready to disagree, Bladud."

"Nay, not exactly to disagree, but to argue. However, I will fall in with your humour just now, and wait for what you may deem a more fitting time. But what, think you, can be the cause of this extraordinary hot spring?"

"Fire!" returned the Greek promptly.

"Truly that must be so," returned the prince, with a laugh. "You are unusually sharp this morning, my friend. But what originates the fire, and where is it, and why does it not set the whole world on fire, seeing that it must needs be under the earth?"

"It would be better to put such questions to the wise men of Egypt, next time you have the chance, than to me," returned Dromas, "for I am not deep enough in philosophy to answer you. Nevertheless, it does not seem presumptuous to make a guess. That there is abundance of fire beneath the ground on which we tread is clear from the burning mountains which you and I have seen on our way from Hellas. Probably there are many such mountains elsewhere, for if the fire did not find an escape in many places, it would assuredly burst our world asunder. What set the inside of the world on fire at the beginning is, of course, a puzzle; and why everything does not catch fire and blaze up is another puzzle--for it is plain that if you were to set fire to the inside of your booth, the outside would be shrivelled up immediately. Then," continued Dromas, knitting his brows and warming with his subject, "there must be a big lake under the earth somewhere, and quite close to the fire, which sets it a-boiling and makes it boil over--thus."

He pointed to the fountain as he spoke.

"There may be truth in what you say, Dromas. At all events your theory is plausible, and this, I know, that ever since I came here, there has not been the slightest diminution in the volume of hot water that has poured forth; from which I would conclude that it has been flowing thus from the beginning of time, and that it will go on flowing thus to the end."

We know not whether the reader will be inclined to class Bladud among the prophets, but there are some prophets who have less claim to the title, for it is a fact that in this year of grace, 1892, the output of hot water from the same fountain, in the town of Bath, is one million tons every year, while the quantity and the temperature never vary in any appreciable degree, summer or winter, from year to year!

Having discussed the philosophical aspect of the fountain, the two friends proceeded with the work then in hand.

Of course, as they gazed around at the richly wooded hills and attractive eminences, which were not only charming sites for the little town, but also well suited for fortresses to resist invasions they were naturally tempted to sacrifice the useful to the safe and beautiful. Fortunately wisdom prevailed, and it was that day decided that the site for Swamptown should be on a slope that rose gently from the river bank, passed close by the Hot Swamp, and was finally lost in the lovely wood-clad terraces beyond.

"We must, of course, confine the hot stream within banks, train it to the river, and drain the Swamp," observed Bladud, as he sat brooding over his plans that night at supper.

"Ay, and make a pond for sick folk to dip in," said Dromas.

"And another pond for the healthy folk," suggested Captain Arkal; "we like to give ourselves a wash now and then, and it would never do for the healthy to go spluttering about with the sick--would it?"

"Certainly not," interposed little Maikar, "but what about the women? They would need a pond for themselves, would they not? Assuredly they would keep us all in hot water if they didn't have one."

"I see," said Bladud, still in a meditative mood. "There would have to be a succession of ponds alongside of the hot stream, with leads to let the water in--"

"And other leads to let the overflow out," suggested the practical Arkal.

"Just so. And booths around the ponds for people to dry themselves and dress in. Ha!" exclaimed the prince, smiting his knee with his hand. "I see a great thing in this--a thing that will benefit mankind as long as disease shall afflict them--as long as the hot waters flow!"

He looked round on his friends with an air of combined solemnity and triumph. The solemnity without the triumph marked the faces of his friends as they returned the look in profound silence, for they all seemed to feel that the prince was in a state of exaltation, and that something approaching to the nature of a prophecy had been uttered.

For a few moments they continued to gaze at each other--then there was a general sigh, as if a matter of great importance had been finally settled, and the silence was at last broken by little Maikar solemnly demanding another rib of roast-beef.


CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.


MORE PLOTS AND PLANS.

Having laid the foundations of the new town, drawn out his plans and set his men to work, Bladud appointed Captain Arkal superintendent, and set out on his quest after his lost friend Cormac, taking Dromas and Maikar along with him and four of the men--one of them being Konar the hunter. Brownie was also an important member of the party, for his master hoped much from his power of scent.

Meanwhile Cormac--alias Branwen, _alias_ the little old woman--forsook the refuge of the Hebrew's house, and, in her antique capacity, paid a visit one afternoon to the palace of Hudibras.

"Here comes that deaf old witch again," said the domestic who had formerly threatened to set the dogs at her.

"Yes," remarked the old woman when she came up to the door, "and the old witch has got her hearing again, my sweet-faced young man--got it back in a way, too, that, if you only heard how, would make your hair stand on end, your eyes turn round, and the very marrow in your spine shrivel up. Go and tell the princess I want to see her."

"Oh!" replied the domestic with a faint effort at a sneer, for he was a bold man, though slightly superstitious.

"Oh!" echoed the old woman. "Yes, and tell her that if she keeps me waiting I'll bring the black cloud of the Boong-jee-gop over the palace, and that will bring you all to the condition of wishing that your grandmothers had never been born. Young man--go!"

This was too much for that domestic. The unheard-of horrors of the Boong-jee-gop, coupled with the tremendous energy of the final "go!" was more than he could stand. He went--meekly.

"Send her to me directly," said Hafrydda, and the humiliated servitor obeyed.

"Dearest Branwen!" exclaimed the princess, throwing back the old woman's shawl, straightening her up, and hugging her when they were alone, "how long you have been coming! Where have you been? Why have you forsaken me? And _I_ have such quantities of news to tell you--but, what has become of your hair?"

"I cut it short after I fell into the hands of robbers--"

"Robbers!" exclaimed the princess.

"Yes--I shall tell you all about my adventures presently--and you have no idea what difficulty I had in cutting it, for the knife was so blunt that I had