CHAPTER VI.

Here found they covert drear :
Scarce images of life; one here, one there,
Lay vast and edgeways, in a dismal cirque
Of druid stones, upon a forlorn moor,
When the chill rain began at shut of eve.

Prone he lay, chin uppermost,

As though in pain.

Above him, on a crag's uneasy shelve,

Upon his elbow raised, all prostrate else,
Shadow'd Enceladus;

As tiger passioned, lion thoughted, wroth,

He meditated, plotted, and even now

Was hurling mountains.

KEATES'S HYPERION, BOOK 2.

PUDENS had not slept long under the shelter of the cromlech, before he was awakened by a peal of thunder, which seemed not only to rock the adamantine walls of his dormitory, but to shake the very earth on which he was reposing. When this noise had subsided, the indistinct sound of footsteps caught his ear; and a flash of lightning at that moment re

vealed to him the forms of two human beings, coming from different directions, and, apparently, meeting casually within a few paces of his domicile. It struck him that one figure was not wholly unknown to him; and his attention being excited, he overheard the following conversation" Ha!" said the one to the other, "whither are you wending your course tonight? it must, surely, be some hazardous enterprise which could have induced you to beard our God Taranis in his own den, and when he seems so angry too."

"What, father, is that you?" interrupted the other, "who would have expected to meet you here on such a night as this? You are better acquainted with these holy precincts than I am, pray find some shelter for us. I never was out in such a storm before; the lightning

Just at this instant, a flash of lightning lighted up the whole hemisphere, and enabled Pudens to discover that the two persons were the wounded Ovate and the widow's accuser; both hurrying to the cromlech in which he was lying.

"Here," said the Ovate to his companion, striking one of the stones, "here we shall find shelter. I am afraid that this cromlech will

not contain us both; but if you will creep in I will seat myself under the over-lapping roofstone, which happens to be just in the right direction to shelter us from the storm."

"Nay," said his companion, "I am no priest, and I would not bury myself in such a cavern, for all the flocks on this plain. I should be afraid that your God Taranis would hurl down the whole fabric upon me for profaning his haunts; or that he, or Hæsus, or, perhaps, some accursed Roman, would just put one of your pebbles (alluding to the rocking-logan) before my door, and I should be buried alive."

It may be imagined that Pudens did not listen to this last sentence unmoved. However, the speaker resumed; " Priests need not be afraid of the gods, therefore do you rest here, and I'll mount guard against all Romans; for I have my trusty dirk with me, the point of which not long ago, was felt by a Roman officer whose corpse some of my clansmen drew hither to be sacrificed, on this very spot, at our last great meeting."

"You slew him, then, did you?" rejoined the Ovate. "I wish that you had slain the whole nation, or, at all events, that you had slain a companion of his, who pretty nearly

crippled me on that same night; and who owes no thanks to me that he was not roasted instead of the corpse. However, I think I will lay me down in this cell," said he, turning towards its

entrance.

Cold perspiration bathed the whole body of Pudens, as he heard this resolve. It was impossible to crawl out without being observed; and, confined as he was, he was quite at their mercy; for he scarcely had room to turn, much less to defend himself.

The Ovate was groping about to find the entrance, when, suddenly, to the inexpressible relief of Pudens, he altered his intention; and observed to his friend, "that as they could not well converse if thus separated, as he had some important business to confer with him upon, he would seat himself by his side."

They accordingly took their seats under the projecting stone, when the conversation was thus continued by the Uchelwyr: "I was just directing my steps towards your house, when this storm obliged me to fly to the nearest shelter I could find."

"By Taranis," replied the Ovate, " that is strange enough; for I had left my house purposely to pay you a visit, and am driven into the same port by the same storm."

66

Possibly," resumed the Uchelwyr, “our errand, too, may have been somewhat similar; if so, we could not have had a more fitting place to talk it over."

66 Well," inquired the Ovate, "what business can you be plotting meet for such a place as this?"

"Why, to come to the point without further preamble," replied the Uchelwyr, "I am crossed in a favourite scheme of mine."

"What is that?" inquired the Ovate.

"I have been thinking," said the Uchelwyr, "that the King's daughter would be no unmeet match for my son: Frothall, you know, is nephew to the King of the Durotriges,* and will soon, probably, succeed to that principality. As he will, in that case, need some powerful ally to enable him to maintain possession of it, the alliance of Arviragus seemed to me very desirable: nor, indeed, would the marriage be disadvantageous to Arviragus, as he seems aware; for the territories of the Durotriges bordering upon his own, and he being anxious to form one extensive alliance against the Romans, he cannot be at all averse to the project."

The Durotriges inhabited Dorsetshire.