"A strange spectacle in that solitary place. And to whom did the mounts belong?"
"To Chram. His wife and two daughters were in the hut. A boat was moored at the shore, and at a distance of about three bows' shots, a light vessel rode at anchor, ready to set sail."
"You mentioned before the means of escape that Clotaire's son had prepared in case his troops were beaten—the vessel, I presume, waited for him and his family?"
"My two companions, as well as myself, hesitated whether or not to enter the hut, when its door opened and a richly dressed young woman stepped to the threshold; two little girls were with her. One of them, a child of about five or six years of age, clung to the folds of her mother's robe, while the latter held another girl of about twelve by the hand. The young woman looked depressed; her eyes were in tears; behind her I saw a warrior, whom I readily recognized as one of the three favorites of Chram, Imnachair, the identical warrior who witnessed the torture to which I was subjected at the burg of Neroweg."
"Were that woman and children Chram's family? It has always seemed strange to me that such monsters should at all have families."
"Those were my very thoughts, Kervan, when the young woman, noticing our traveling bags on our shoulders, asked us with marked anxiety whether we came from Nantes, and whether we had any news of a battle that must have been fought there."
" 'We can give you no information upon that, madam,' we answered her, 'we did not even know that there were any armies drawn up for battle.'
"Suddenly one of the slaves who must have been stationed on the lookout over the crest of the rock, ran towards the hut crying: 'Horsemen! We see far away, in a cloud of dust, a number of horsemen riding at full gallop in this direction!'
" 'Death and fury!' cried Imnachair stamping the ground and growing pale. 'It is Chram—the battle is lost!'
"At these words the poor young woman fell down upon her knees, clasped her two daughters to her heart, and I could hear but the moans and sobs of the mother and her children.