ying the presence of the hunter.

The eyes of Addedomar opened wider and wider as his scouts dropped in
one by one, and his heart beat high with glee and hope at the news they
brought, for it opened up a speedy conquest in detail of more foes than
he had counted on meeting with, and left the prospect of his afterwards
carrying into execution his original plan.

The first scout brought the intelligence that it was not the men of King
Hudibras who were in the neighbourhood, but those of Gadarn, the great
chief of the far north, who had come there with an armed force in search
of his daughter--she having gone lost, stolen, or strayed in the
wilderness.

"Is the band a large one?" demanded Addedomar.

"It is; but not so large as ours, and it is weakened every day by being
sent into the woods in different directions and in three detachments."

"Excellent! Ha! we will join Gadarn in this search, not only for his
daughter, but for himself, and we will double the number of his
detachments when we meet them, by slicing each man in two."

A loud laugh greeted this pleasantry, for robbers were easily tickled in
those days.

"I also discovered," continued the scout, "that there is search being
made at the same time for some boy or lad, who seems to have
disappeared, or run away, or been caught by robbers."

Again there was a laugh at the idea that there were other robbers about
besides themselves, but the chief checked them.

"Did you find out anything else about this lad?" he asked.

"Only that he seemed from his dress to be a hunter."

Addedomar frowned and looked at the ground for some moments in
meditation.

"I'm convinced," he said at last, "that this lad is none other than the
girl who escaped in the hunting dress of my young brother, just the day
before I returned to camp. Mother was not as careful as she might have
been at that time, and lost me a pretty wife. Good! Things are turning
out well to-day. We will rout Gadarn, find his daughter and this
so-called lad, and then I shall have two wives instead of one."

The robber chief had just come to this satisfactory conclusion, when
another scout arrived.

"How now, varlet? Do you bring good news?"

"That depends on what you consider good," answered the scout, panting.
"I have just learned that a large body of King Hudibras' men--about two
hundred, I believe--is on its way to the Swamp to search for his son
Bladud--"

"What! the giant whom we have hea