CWM BYCHAN. 287 



by a few of the band who had been left, as it seemed, to guard the 

 fastness, and who regarded Mortimer with the greatest surprise and 

 evident satisfaction. He was now perfectly sensible of all that was 

 passing around, and fully aware of the utter hopelessness of his situ- 

 ation. Though he did not understand their conversation, yet from 

 their fierce gestures, and the savage looks with which they glared 

 upon him, he felt that he was a doomed victim, and that to plead 

 for mercy would be vain, and only expose him to the taunts and de- 

 rision of his captors. Nevertheless his courage did not fail him ; he 

 stood erect, and looked around with an air of haughty defiance. 

 One who seemed a chief now spoke, and told Mortimer that he 

 must prepare to die ; but that, as they desired all their companions 

 to witness his death, and as some of them must be summoned from 

 a distance, the execution would be deferred until night, " when," 

 concluded the speaker, " every drop of thy blood shall answer for 

 the life of a brave Briton !" He was then placed in one of the 

 caverns with which the surrounding cliffs abounded ; and, after 

 being strongly secured, he Avas left alone. 



Mortimer had ample time, during the weary day which followed, 

 to think on the horrid fate that awaited him ; to mourn over his 

 slaughtered comrades ; to lament the loss of his faithful page, whom 

 he had seen lying with the dead. Naturally brave and fearless, he 

 could have met any danger in the open field ; he could have boldly 

 faced death with his sweeping scythe of war ; but thus to be mas- 

 sacred in cold blood, without the excitement of strife or battle, 

 unseen and unregreted, was too much for his stoicism. He shud- 

 dered when he contemplated the prospect. Nevertheless he deter- 

 mined tc nerve his mind to endure the worst, and to die as became 

 a man and a warrior. 



The shadows of evening had begun to darken over Cwm Bychan. 

 The atmosphere was unusually close and oppressive ; not a breath of 

 air waved the dark waters, or moved through the rock-rent ravine. 

 Yet larger masses of clouds, which hung suspended over the tops of 

 the hills, seemed drawn together by some potent but unseen influ- 

 ence. All was silence, all was gloom : the general appearance of 

 the heavens portended one of those storms which so frequently pre- 

 vail in mountainous districts ; but, at present, Nature seemed rest- 

 ing on a balance, which held in either hand the warring elements. 



Several small parties of Welsh had arrived during the dav ; and 

 now, the whole of the band being assembled, it was determined to 

 bring out the prisoner for execution. A large stone was prepared, 

 on which the forc-doomed victim was to be bound ; and as all were 



