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

to cut and pull at it a whole afternoon. But it had to be done, for I meant to personate a boy--having stolen a boy's hunting dress for that purpose. Wasn't it fun to rob the robbers? And then-- and then--I found your brother--"

"_You_ found Bladud?"

"Yes, and--and--but I'll tell you all about that too presently. It is enough to say that he is alive and well--sickness almost, if not quite, gone. I _was_ so sorry for him."

"Dear Branwen!" said the princess, with an emphatic oral demonstration.

Hafrydda was so loving and tender and effusive, and, withal, so very fair, that her friend could not help gazing at her in admiration.

"No wonder I love him," said Branwen.

"Why?" asked the princess, much amused at the straightforward gravity with which this was said.

"Because he is as like you as your own image in a brazen shield--only far better-looking."

"Indeed, your manners don't seem to have been improved by a life in the woods, my Branwen."

"Perhaps not. I never heard of the woods being useful for that end. Ah, if you had gone through all that I have suffered--the--the--but what news have you got to tell me?"

"Well, first of all," replied the princess, with that comfortable, interested manner which some delightful people assume when about to make revelations, "sit down beside me and listen--and don't open your eyes too wide at first else there will be no room for further expansion at last."

Hereupon the princess entered on a minute account of various doings at the court, which, however interesting they were to Branwen, are not worthy of being recorded here. Among other things, she told her of a rumour that was going about to the effect that an old witch had been seen occasionally in the neighbourhood of Beniah's residence, and that all the people in the town were more or less afraid of going near the place either by day or night on that account.

Of course the girls had a hearty laugh over this. "Did they say what the witch was like?" asked Branwen.

"O yes. People have given various accounts of her--one being that she is inhumanly ugly, that fire comes out of her coal-black eyes, and that she has a long tail. But now I come to my most interesting piece of news--that will surprise you most, I think--your father Gadarn is here!"

Branwen received this piece of news with such quiet indifference that her friend was not only disappointed but amazed.

"My dear," she asked, "why do you not gasp, `My father!' and lift your eyebrows to the roots of your hair?"

"Because I know that he is here."

"Know it!"

"Yes--know it. I have seen him, as well as your brother, and father knows that _I_ am here."

"Oh! you deceiver! That accounts, then, for the mystery of his manner and the strange way he has got of going about chuckling when there is nothing funny being said or done--at least nothing that I can see!"

"He's an old goose," remarked her friend.

"Branwen," said the princess in a remonstrative tone, "is that the way to speak of your own father?"

"He's a dear old goose, then, if that will please you better--the very nicest old goose that I ever had to do with. Did he mention Bladud to you?"

"Yes, he said he had seen him, and been helped by him in a fight they seemed to have had at the Hot Swamp, but we could not gather much from him as to the dear boy's state of health, or where he lived, or what he meant to do. He told us, however, of a mysterious boy who had nursed him in sickness, and who had somehow been lost or captured, and that poor Bladud was so fond of the boy that he had remained behind to search for him. I now know," added the princess with a laugh, "who this dear boy is, but I am greatly puzzled still about some of his doings and intentions."

"Listen, then, Hafrydda, and I will tell you all." As we have already told the reader all, we will not tell it over again, but leap at once to that point where the princess asked, at the close of the narrative, what her friend intended to do.

"That," said Branwen with a perplexed look and a sigh, "is really more than I can tell you at present. You see, there are some things that I am sure of and some things that I am not quite so sure of, but that I must find out somehow. For instance, I am quite sure that I love your brother more than any man in the world. I am also quite sure that he is the bravest, handsomest, strongest, best, and most unselfish man that ever lived--much about the same as my father, except that, being younger, he is handsomer, though I have no doubt my father was as good-looking as he when he was as young. Then I am also quite sure that Bladud is very fond of the boy Cormac, but--I am not at all sure that he will love the girl Branwen when he sees her."

"But _I_ am sure of it--quite sure," said the princess, demonstrating orally again.

At this there was a slight sound near the door of the apartment in which this confidential talk was held, which induced Branwen to spring up and fling it wide open, thus disclosing the lately humiliated servitor with the blush of guilt upon his brow.

"Enter!" cried the princess, in an imperious tone, looking up at the man, who was unusually tall and limp.

The servitor obeyed.

"Sit down," said the princess, with a view to get the tall man's head on a level with her blue indignant eyes. "Have you heard much?"

"Not much," answered the man, with intense humility. "I heard only a very little at the end, and that so imperfectly that I don't think I can remember it--I really don't."

"Now, listen," said the princess, with a look that was intended to scorch. "You know my father."

"Indeed I do,--have known him ever since I was a boy."

"Well, if you ever breathe a word of what you have seen or heard, or what you think you have seen or heard to-day, to any one, I will set my father at you, and that, as you know, will mean roasting alive over a slow fire at the very least."

"And," said Branwen, advancing and shaking her forefinger within an inch of the man's nose, "I will set _my_ father at you, which will mean slow torture for hours. Moreover, I will set the Boong-jee-gop on your track, and that will mean--no, I won't say what. It is too horrible even to mention!"

"Now--go!" said the princess, pointing to the door.

The servitor went with an air of profound abasement, which changed into a look of complicated amusement when he got out of sight.

"He is quite safe," said the princess, "not that I count much on his fear, for he is as brave as a she-wolf with whelps, and fears nothing, but I know he likes me."

"I think he likes me too," said Branwen, thoughtfully. "Besides, I feel sure that the Boong-jee-gop has some influence over him. Yes, I think we are safe."

"Well, now," she continued, resuming the interrupted conversation, "it seems to me that the only course open to me is to appear to Bladud as a girl some day, and see if he recognises me. Yet I don't quite like it, for, now that it is all past and he is well again, I feel half ashamed of the part I have played--yet how could I help it when I saw the poor fellow going away to die--alone!"

"You could not help it, dear, and you should not wish it were otherwise. Now, never mind what you feel about it, but let us lay our heads together and consider what is to be done. You think, I suppose, that Bladud may go on for a long time searching for this youth Cormac?"

"Yes, for a very long time, and he'll _never_ find him," replied Branwen with a merry laugh.

"Well, then, we must find some means of getting him home without letting him know why we want him," continued the princess.

"Just so, but that won't be easy," returned the other with a significant look, "for he is _very_ fond of Cormac, and won't easily be made to give up looking for him."

"You conceited creature, you are too sure of him."

"Not at all. Only as Cormac. I wish I were sure of him as Branwen!"

"Perchance he might like you best as the little old woman in grey."

"It may be so. I think he liked me even as a witch, for he patted my shoulder once so kindly."

"I'll tell you what--I'll go and consult father," said the princess.

"No, you shan't, my dear, for he is not to know anything about it just yet. But I will go and consult _my_ father. He will give me good advice, I know."

The result of Branwen's consultation with her father was that the Hebrew was summoned to his presence. An explanation took place, during which Gadarn attempted to look grave, and dignified, as became a noted northern chief, but frequently turned very red in the face and vented certain nasal sounds, which betrayed internal commotion.

"You will therefore start for the Hot Swamp to-morrow, Beniah," he finally remarked, "and let Bladud know that the king desires his return to court immediately. I have been told by the king to send him this message. But keep your own counsel, Hebrew, and be careful not to let the prince know what _you_ know, else it will go ill with you! Tell him, from myself, that I have at last fallen on the tracks of the lad Cormac, and that we are almost sure to find him in this neighbourhood. Away, and let not thy feet take root on the road."


CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.


BRANWEN VISITS GUNRIG.

Before going off on his mission the Hebrew paid a visit to his own residence, where he found Branwen busy with culinary operations. Sitting down on a stool, he looked at her with an expression of mingled amusement and perplexity.

"Come hither, my girl," he said, "and sit beside me while I reveal the straits to which you have brought me. Verily, a short time ago I had deemed it impossible for any one to thrust me so near to the verge of falsehood as you have done!"

"I, Beniah?" exclaimed the maiden, with a look of surprise on her pretty face so ineffably innocent that it was obviously hypocritical--insomuch that Beniah laughed, and Branwen was constrained to join him.

"Yes--you and your father together, for the puzzling man has commissioned me to set out for the Hot Swamp, to tell Bladud that he is urgently wanted at home. And he would not even allow me to open my lips, when I was about to broach the subject of your disguises, although he almost certainly knows all about them--"

"What! my father knows?" interrupted Branwen, with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, and you know that he knows,