ed in rapt attention, my eyes fixed on his face. I had not heard
this story before. Who would have told me? Not Mother Barberin, surely!
She did not know anything about it. She was born at Chavanon, and would
probably die there. Her mind had never traveled farther than her eyes.

My master had seen a king, and this king had spoken to him! What was my
master in his youth, and how had he become what I saw him now in his
old age?...

We had been tramping since morning. Vitalis had said that we should
reach a village by night where we could sleep, but night had come, and I
saw no signs of this village, no smoke in the distance to indicate that
we were near a house. I could see nothing but a stretch of plains ahead
of us. I was tired, and longed to go to sleep. Vitalis was tired also.
He wanted to stop and rest by the roadside, but instead of sitting down
beside him, I told him that I would climb a hill that was on the left of
us and see if I could make out a village. I called Capi, but Capi also
was tired, and turned a deaf ear to my call; this he usually did when he
did not wish to obey me.

"Are you afraid?" asked Vitalis.

His question made me start off at once, alone.

Night had fallen. There was no moon, but the twinkling stars in the sky
threw their light on a misty atmosphere. The various things around me
seemed to take on a strange, weird form in the dim light. Wild furze
grew in bushes beside some huge stones which, towering above me, seemed
as though they turned to look at me. The higher I climbed, the thicker
became the trees and shrubs, their tops passing over my head and
interlacing. Sometimes I had to crawl through them to get by. Yet I was
determined to get to the top of the hill. But, when at last I did, and
gazed around, I could see no light anywhere; nothing but strange shadows
and forms, and great trees which seemed to hold out their branches to
me, like arms ready to enfold me.

I listened to see if I could catch the bark of a dog, or the bellow of a
cow, but all was silent. With my ear on the alert, scarcely breathing so
as to hear better, I stood quiet for a moment. Then I began to tremble,
the silence of this lonely, uncultivated country frightened me. Of what
was I frightened? The silence probably ... the night ... anyhow, a
nameless fear was creeping over me. My heart beat quickly, as though
some danger was near. I glanced fearfully around me, and then in the
distance I saw a great form moving