First I learned that Ar-hap's men, with the abducted Heru, had passed through this very port two days before, and by this time were probably in the main town, which, it appeared, was only about twelve hours' rowing up the salt-water estuary outside. Here was news! Heru, the prize and object of my wild adventure, close at hand and well. It brought a whole new train of thoughts, for the last few days had been so full of the stress of travel, the bare, hard necessity of getting forward, that the object of my quest, illogical as it may seem, had gone into the background before these things. And here again, as I finished the last cake and drank down to the bottom of the ale tankard, the extreme folly of the venture came upon me, the madness of venturing single-handed into the den of the Wood King.
What had I to hope for? What chance, however remote, was there of successfully wresting that blooming prize from the arms of her captor? Force was out of the question;stealth was utterly impractical; as for cajolery, apparently the sole remaining means of winning back the Princess--why, one might as well try the persuasion of a penny flute upon a hungry eagle as seek to rouse Ar-hap's sympathies for bereaved Hath in that way. Surely to go forward would mean my own certain destruction, with no advantage, no help to Heru; and if I was ever to turn back or stop in the idle quest, here was the place and time. My Hither friends were behind the sea; to them I could return before it was too late, and here were the rough but honest Thither folk, who would doubtless let me live amongst them if that was to be my fate. One or other alternative were better than going to torture and death.
"You seem to take the fate of that Hither girl of yours mightily to heart, stranger," quoth my hostess, with a touch of feminine jealousy, as she watched my hesitation. "Do you know anything of her?""Yes," I answered gloomily. "I have seen her once or twice away in Seth.""Ah, that reminds me! When they brought her up here from the boats to dry her wet clothes, she cried and called in her grief for just such a one as you, saying he alone who struck down our men at her feast could rescue her--""What! Heru here in this room but yesterday! How did she look? Was she hurt? How had they treated her?"My eagerness gave me away. The woman looked at me through her half-shut eyes a space, and then said, "Oh! sits the wind in THAT quarter? So you can love as well as eat.
I must say you are well-conditioned for a spirit."I got up and walked about the room a space, then, feeling very friendless, and knowing no woman was ever born who was not interested in another woman's loves, I boldly drew my hostess aside and told her about Heru, and that I was in pursuit of her, dwelling on the girl's gentle helplessness, my own hare-brained adventure, and frankly asking what sort of a sovereign Ar-hap was, what the customs of his court might be, and whether she could suggest any means, tem-poral or spiritual, by which he might be moved to give back Heru to her kindred.
Nor was my confidence misplaced. The woman, as Iguessed, was touched somewhere back in her female heart by my melting love-tale, by my anxiety and Heru's peril.
Besides, a ghost in search of a fairy lady--and such the slender folk of Seth were still considered to be by the race which had supplanted them--this was romance indeed.
To be brief, that good woman proved invaluable.
She told me, firstly, that Ar-hap was believed to be away at war, "weekending" as was his custom, amongst rebellious tribes, and by starting at once up the water, I should very probably get to the town before he did. Sec-ondly, she thought if I kept clear of private brawls there was little chance of my receiving injury, from the people at all events, as they were accustomed to strange visitors, and civil enough until they were fired by war. "Sickle cold, sword hot," was one of their proverbs, meaning thereby that in peaceful times they were lambs, however lionlike they might be in contest.
This was reassuring, but as to recovering the lady, that was another matter over which the good woman shook her head.
It was ill coming between Ar-hap and his tribute, she said;still, if I wanted to see Heru once again, this was my op-portunity, and, for the rest, that chance, which often favours the enamoured, must be my help.
Briefly, though I should probably have gone forward in any case out of sheer obstinacy, had it been to certain destruction, this better aspect of the situation hastened my resolution. I thanked the woman for help, and then the man outside was called in to advise as to the best and speediest way of getting within earshot of his hairy sovereignty, the monarch of Thitherland.
