Will it please him to join our hunt?"
"Doubtless," she said. "Now there is no time to be lost, for the
day is high already."
"None the worse, Princess," said Eric. "The last snow is passing
hourly."
So we went round to the front of the palace toward the gates, and
there waited half a dozen more men and horses by a gathering of men
on foot with a pack of great hounds, the like of which I had never
seen. They were the Danish hounds, which had come hither with their
masters, and were big and strong enough for any quarry, even were
it the bear that yet lurked in the Welsh mountain wilds.
Then Howel came, and would have me mounted well, and in less than
half an hour we were riding eastward along the ancient way they
call the Ridgeway, which crowns the long hill between the sea and
the valleys where lie the windings of Milford Haven. And so we went
till we could see Tenby itself far off on its rocky ness, and at
that point left Thorgils to go his way, while we turned northward
into the inland valleys, and sought the deep combe where they had
harboured the stag.
The snow lay here and there yet, but it was almost gone, and the
going was somewhat heavy, but overhead the sky was soft and grey,
and the wind was pleasant if chill. North and west it was, and that
would be fair for our crossing, if only it would hold, as Thorgils
deemed that it surely would.
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