"Better not speak with your mouth full, then. Ah! poor Gadarn," said Bladud, in an obviously indifferent tone of voice. "I'm sorry for him.

Girls like his daughter, who are self-willed, and given to running away, are a heavy affliction to parents. And, truly, I ought to feel sympathy with him, for, although I am seeking for a youth of very different character, we are both so far engaged in similar work--search for the lost. And what of my father, mother, and sister?"

"All hale and hearty!" replied Beniah, with a sigh of relief, "and all anxious for your return, especially Hafrydda."

At this point Dromas looked at the speaker with deepened interest.

"She is a good girl, your sister," continued Beniah, "and greatly taken up just now with that old woman you met in my cave. Hafrydda has strange fancies."

"She might have worse fancies than being taken up with poor old women,"

returned the prince. "I'm rather fond of them myself, and was particularly attracted by the old woman referred to. She was--what!

choking again, Beniah? Come, I think you have had enough for one meal.

And so have we all, friends, therefore we had better away to roost if we are to be up betimes in the morning."

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

BLADUD'S RETURN AND TRIALS.

We need scarcely say that there was joy at the court of King Hudibras when Bladud returned home, cured of his terrible disease.

The first person whom the prince hurried off to visit, after seeing his father, and embracing his mother and sister, was the northern chief Gadarn. That jovial character was enjoying a siesta after the mid-day meal at the time, but willingly arose on the prince being announced.

"Glad to see you, Gadarn," said Bladud, entering the room that had been apportioned to the chief, and sitting down on a bench for visitors, which, according to custom, stood against the inner wall of the apartment. "I hope your head is clear and your arm strong."

"Both are as they should be," answered Gadarn, returning the salutation.

"I thank you," replied the prince, "my arm is indeed strong, but my head is not quite as clear as it might be."

"Love got anything to do with it?" asked Gadarn, with a knowing look.

"Not the love of woman, if that is what you mean."

"Truly that is what I do mean--though, of course, I admit that one's horses and dogs have also a claim on our affections. What is it that troubles you, my son?"

The affectionate conclusion of this reply, and the chief's manner, drew the prince towards him, so that he became confidential.

"The truth is, Gadarn, that I am very anxious to know what news you have of Cormac--for the fate of that poor boy hangs heavy on my mind.

Indeed, I should have refused to quit the Swamp, in spite of the king's commands and my mother's entreaties, if you had not sent that message by the Hebrew."

"Ah, Bladud, my young friend, that is an undutiful speech for a son to make about his parents," said the chief, holding up a remonstrative forefinger. "If that is the way you treat your natural parents, how can I expect that--that--I mean--"

Here the chief was seized with a fit of sneezing, so violent, that it made the prince quite concerned about the safety of his nose.

"Ha!" exclaimed Gadarn, as a final wind up to the last sneeze, "the air of that Swamp seems to have been too strong for me. I'm growing old, you see. Well--what was I saying?--never mind. You were referring to that poor lad Cormac. Yes, I have news of him."

"Good news, I hope?" said the prince, anxiously. "O yes--very good-- excellent! That is to say--rather--somewhat indefinite news, for--for the person who saw him told me--in fact, it is difficult to explain, because people are often untrustworthy, and exaggerate reports, so that it is not easy to make out what is true and what is false, or whether both accounts may be true, or the whole thing false altogether. You see, Bladud, our poor brains," continued the chief, in an argumentative tone, "are so--so--queerly mixed up that one cannot tell--tell--why, there was once a fellow in my army, whose manner of reporting any event, no matter how simple, was so incomprehensible that it was impossible to--to--but let me tell you an anecdote about him. His name was--"

"Forgive my interrupting you, chief, but I am so anxious to hear something about my lost friend that--"

"Ha! Bladud, I fear that you are a selfish man, for you have not yet asked about my lost daughter."

"Indeed I am not by any means indifferent about her; but--but, you know, I have never seen her, and, to tell the plain truth, my anxiety about the boy drove her out of my mind for the moment. Have you found her?"

"Ay, that I have; as well and hearty as ever she was, though somewhat more beautiful and a trifle more mischievous. But I will introduce her to you to-morrow. There is to be a grand feast, is there not, at the palace?"

"Yes; something of the sort, I believe, in honour of my return,"

answered the prince, a good deal annoyed by the turn the conversation had taken.

"Well, then, you shall see her then; for she has only just arrived, and is too tired to see any one," continued Gadarn, with a suppressed yawn; "and you'll be sure to fall in love with her; but you had better not, for her affections are already engaged. I give you fair warning, so be on your guard."

The prince laughed, and a.s.sured his friend that there was no fear, as he had seen thousands of fair girls both in East and West, but his heart had never yet been touched by one of them.

At this the chief laughed loudly, and a.s.sured Bladud that his case had now reached a critical stage: for when young men made statements of that kind, they were always on the point of being conquered.

"But leave me now, Bladud," he continued, with a yawn so vast that the regions around the uvula were clearly visible; "I'm frightfully sleepy, and you know you have shortened my nap this afternoon."

The prince rose at once.

"At all events," he said, "I am to understand, before I go, that Cormac _has_ been seen?"

"O yes! Certainly; no doubt about that!"

"And is well?"

"Quite well."

Fain to be content with this in the meantime, Bladud hurried to the apartment of his sister.

"Hafrydda!" he exclaimed, "has Gadarn gone out of his mind?"

"I believe not," she replied, sitting down beside her brother and taking his hand. "Why do you ask?"

"Because he talks--I say it with all respect--like an idiot."

Hafrydda laughed; and her brother thereupon gave her a full account of the recent interview.

"Now, my sister, you were always straightforward and wise. Give me a clear answer. Has Cormac been found?"

"No, he has not been found; but--"

"Then," interrupted Bladud, in a savage tone that was very foreign to his nature, "Gadarn is a liar!"

"Oh, brother! say not so."

"How can I help it? He gave me to understand that Cormac _has_ been found--at least, well, no, not exactly found, but _seen_ and heard of.

I'm no better than the rest of you," continued Bladud, with a sarcastic laugh. "It seems as if there were something in the air just now which prevents us all from expressing ourselves plainly."

"Well, then, brother," said Hafrydda, with a smile, "if he told you that Cormac has been seen and heard of, and is well, surely that may relieve your mind till to-morrow, when I know that some one who knows all about the boy is to be at our festival. We begin it with games, as usual.

Shall you be there?"