“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.