"Then we hunt on Marbosa's estate," said Nick, and I could see that he was not pleased at the prospect.
The Prince seemed highly amused at Nick's reply, and laughed as if he deemed he had made an important discovery.
"For an American, Mr. Fremsted," he smiled, "you know the Forest well."
Nick was nettled. He realized that he had almost committed himself. I saw him covertly glance at the Prince under his eyebrows as if he wondered how this slow-brained, broken-English-speaking youth had found the wit to trap him. But he was equal to the occasion.
"Oh," he replied, easily, "General Palmora during the past ten years has often had me hunting with him in this forest. I should know it well."
"So?" said the Prince, and the subject was dismissed for a time.
The Forest of Zin, as I soon found, was not far distant. In fact it began at the rear of the Framkor estate and extended, so they said, for some fifty miles to the north. All the nobles who owned the adjoining land had established a game preserve over the entire territory and the peasantry was not allowed within its sacred precincts. According to the Prince, many of them had broken the law and, when caught, were "bastinado'd"—severely beaten on the soles of the feet, a method of punishment inherited from the Turks.
So great was the density of the forest when we plunged into it along a narrow bridle path, and so magnificent the height of the trees, that the light of the sun filtered through with difficulty. The resulting gloom was like that of a cloudy day and had its necessary effect upon my spirits. Long narrow roads opened vistas of wide clearings, beyond, which never materialized. All about was the mystery of silence as if the wild things watched in awe the human destroyer march by. Even the dogs, held firmly in leashes of four, lolled their red tongues from their mouths and ceased to give voice to their impatience.
The further we progressed the denser became the growth until at times we were compelled to bend over our horses' heads to avoid the wide arms of the giant oaks, gnarled and twisted, which hung low over our path. Speed at times was impossible and our progress was necessarily slow. The Forest of Zin was no place for a careless rider.
The Big Spring, of which the Prince had spoken, was the fountain head of a little brook that issued from the roots of the largest oak in the forest. We found a score of the Red Fox's men there, preparing a hunter's meal over many wood fires. The odour of the cooking was pleasant to the nostrils. When we dismounted I found that it was nearly eleven o'clock and that it had taken the forenoon to arrive at the hunting grounds.