In which very Perplexing Events Occur.  
The visitor referred to in the last chapter was a tall, broad-shouldered old man with a snowy head of hair and a flowing white beard, a long, loose black garment, and a stout staff about six feet long.
 
Cormac had gone to a spring for water at the time he arrived, and Bladud was lying on his back inside his hut.
 
“Is any one within?” demanded the stranger, lifting a corner of the curtain.
 
“Enter not here, whoever you are!” replied the prince quickly, springing up—“stay—I will come out to you.”
 
“You are wonderfully inhospitable,” returned the stranger, as the prince issued from the hut and stood up with an inquiring look which suddenly changed to one of astonishment.
 
“Beniah!” he exclaimed.
 
“Even so,” replied the Hebrew, holding out his hand, but Bladud drew back.
 
“What! will you neither permit me to enter your house nor shake your hand? I was not so churlish when you visited my dwelling.”
 
“You know well, old man, that I do not grudge hospitality, but fear to infect you.”
 
“Yes, I know it well,” rejoined the Hebrew, smiling, “and knowing that you were here, I turned aside on my journey to inquire as to your welfare.”
 
“I have much to say about my welfare and strange things to tell you, but first let me know what has brought you to this part of the land—for if you have turned aside to see me—seeing me has not been your main object.”
 
“You are right. Yet it pleases me well to use this opportunity, and to see by your looks and bearing, that the disease seems to have been arrested.”
 
“Yes, thanks be to the All-seeing One, I am well, or nearly so. But proceed to explain the reason of your journey.”
 
“The cause of it is the unaccountable disappearance of the girl named Branwen.”
 
“What! she who is the bosom friend of my sister Hafrydda?”
 
“The same. She had fled, you may remember, from your father’s court for fear of being compelled to wed with Gunrig, the chief whose crown you cracked so deftly on the day of your arrival. She, poor thing, took refuge at first with me. I hid her for some time—”
 
“Then,” interrupted the prince, “she must have been hidden in your hut at the time of my visit!”
 
“She was. But that was no business of yours.”
 
“Surely it was, old man, for my father’s business is my business.”
 
“Yea, but it was not my business to enlighten you, or the king either, while I had reason to know that he meant unduly to coerce the maiden. However, there she was hidden, as I tell you. Now, you are aware that Branwen’s father Gadarn is a great chief, whose people live far away in the northern part of Albion. I bade Branwen remain close in my hut, in a secret chamber, while I should go and acquaint her father with her position, and fetch him down with a strong band of his retainers to rescue her. You should have seen the visage of Gadarn, when I told him the news. A wild boar of the woods could scarce have shown his tusks more fiercely. He not only ordered an armed band to get ready, instantly, but he roused the whole country around, and started off that same day with all his followers armed to the teeth. Of course I led them. In due course we arrived at my hut, when—lo! I found that the bird was flown!”
 
“I could see by the appearance of things,” continued the Hebrew, “that the foolish girl had left of her own will, for there was no evidence of violence anywhere—which would doubtless have been the case if robbers had found her and carried her away, for they would certainly have carried off some of my goods along with her. The rage of her father on making this discovery was terrible. He threatened at once to cut off my old head, and even drew his sword with intent to act the part of executioner. But I reminded him that if he did so, he would cut off the only head that knew anything about his daughter, and that I had still some knowledge regarding her with which he was not acquainted.
 
“This arrested his hand just in time, for I actually fancied that I had begun to feel the edge of his sword slicing into my spinal marrow. When he had calmed himself enough to listen, I told him that Branwen had spoken about paying a visit to the Hot Springs—that I knew she was bent on going there, for some reason that I could not understand, and that I thought it more than likely she had gone. ‘Axe-men, to the front! Form long line! hooroo!’ yelled the chief—(or something of that sort, for I’m a man of peace, and don’t understand warlike orders), and away went the whole host at a run, winding through the forest like a great snake; Gadarn and I leading them, except when the thickets became impenetrable, and then the axe-men were ordered to the front and soon broke them down. And so, in course of time, we came within a few miles of the Hot Swamp, and—and, as I have said, I have been permitted to turn aside to visit you.”
 
“Truly a strange tale,” remarked the prince. “And is the armed host of Gadarn actually within a few miles of us?”
 
“It is; and, to say truth, I have come out to search for you chiefly to inquire whether you have seen any young woman at all resembling Branwen during your wanderings in this region?”
 
The Hebrew looked keenly at the prince as he put this question.
 
“You forget I have never seen this girl, and, therefore, could not know her even if I had met her. But, in truth, I have not seen any woman, young or old, since I came here. Nor have I seen any human being save my mad master, Konar, and a poor youth whom I rescued some time ago from the hands of robbers. He has nursed me through a severe illness, and is even now with me. But what makes you think that Branwen intended to come to the Swamp?”
 
“Because—because, she had reasons of her own. I do not profess to understand the workings of a young girl’s mind,” answered the Hebrew.
 
“And what will you do,” said Bladud, “now that you find she has not been here? Methinks that when Gadarn hears of your failure to find her at the Swamp, your spinal marrow and his sword wi............