Where is the llyn?"

"Over that crag at the foot of Aran Vawr."

"Is it a large lake?"

"It is not; it is small."

"Deep?"

"Very."

"Strange things in it?"

"I believe there are strange things in it." His English now became
broken.

"Crocodiles?"

"I do not know what cracadailes be."

"Efync?"

"Ah! No, I do not tink there be efync dere. Hu Gadarn in de old time
kill de efync dere and in all de lakes in Wales. He draw them out of the
water with his ychain banog his humpty oxen, and when he get dem out he
burn deir bodies on de fire, he good man for dat."

"What do you call this allt?" said I, looking up to the high pinnacled
hill on my right.

"I call that Tap Nyth yr Eryri."

"Is not that the top nest of the eagles?"

"I believe it is. Ha! I see you understand Welsh."

"A little," said I. "Are there eagles there now?"

"No, no eagle now."

"Gone like avanc?"

"Yes, gone like avanc, but not so long. My father see eagle on Tap Nyth,
but my father never see avanc in de llyn."

"How far to Dinas?"

"About three mile."

"Any thieves about?"

"No, no thieves here, but what come from England," and he looked at me
with a strange, grim smile.

"What is become of the red-haired robbers of Mawddwy?"

"Ah," said the old man, staring at me, "I see you are a Cumro. The
red-haired thieves of Mawddwy! I see you are from these parts."

"What's become of them?"

"Oh, dead, hung. Lived long time ago; long before eagle left Tap Nyth."

He spoke true. The red-haired banditti of Mawddwy were exterminated long
before the conclusion of the sixteenth century, after having long been
the terror not only of these wild regions but of the greater part of
North Wales. They were called the red-haired banditti because certain
leading individuals amongst them had red foxy hair.

"Is that young man your son?" said I, after a little pause.

"Yes, he my son."

"Has he any English?"

"No, he no English, but he plenty of Welsh--that is if he see reason."

I spoke to the young man in Welsh, asking him if he had ever been up to
the Tap Nyth, but he made no answer.

"He no care for your question," said the old man; "ask him price of pig."
I asked the young fellow the price of hogs, whereupon his face brightened
up, and he not only answered my question, but told me that he had fat hog
to sell. "Ha, ha," said the old man; "he plenty of Welsh now, for he see
reason. To other question he no Welsh at a