ans had built, and when they had left Britain this town
had been deserted and left desolate, to become a place where the wolf
and the bear made their lairs, where the beaver built his dam in the
stream beneath the wall of the palace, and where robbers and wild men
lay hid, or the small people of the hills came and made their magic and
weaved their spells, with the aid of the spirits haunting the desolate
hearths of the Romans.

And as Enid checked her horse and waited for Geraint to come up, that
she might ask him whether it was his pleasure to pass the night there,
she saw, down the wide street before her, the forms of men, creeping
and gathering in the gloom. Then, fearing lest they should fall upon
her husband before he was aware of them, she turned her horse and rode
towards him and said:

'Lord, dost thou see the wild men which gather in the shadows there in
the street before us, as if they would attack thee?'

Geraint lifted up his angry eyes to hers:

'Thou wert bid to keep silent,' he said, 'whatsoever thou hast seen or
heard. Why dost thou warn one whom thou dost despise?'

Even as he spoke, from the broken houses through which they had crept
to assail the single knight, dashed ten robbers, naked of feet, evil of
look, clothed in skins. One leaped at the knight with a knife in his
hand, to be cut down, halfway in his spring, by Sir Geraint's fierce
sword-stroke. Then, while Enid stood apart, terror in her heart, prayer
on her lips, she saw him as if he were in the midst of a pack of
tearing wolves, and in the silent street with its twilight was the
sudden clash of steel, the howls and cries of wounded men.

Then she was aware that six lay quiet on the road, and the remaining
four broke suddenly away towards the shelter of the houses. But two of
these Sir Geraint pursued, and cut down before they could reach cover.

He rejoined her in silence and sought for a place of lodging; and in a
small villa they found a room with but one door. Here they supped from
the scrip of food and the bottle of wine which Enid had brought, and
there they slept that night.

On the morrow they pursued their way, and followed the green road out
of the ruined city until they reached the forest. And in the heat and
brightness of the high noon the green and coolness of the forestways
were sweet, and the sound of tiny streams hidden beneath the leaves was
refreshing.

Then they came upon a plain where was a village surrounded by