Whence they came he could not tell,
for noises in these huge woods are so reverberated, that a stranger
is always at fault as to their whereabout; but they seemed to fill
the whole air. Presently there was a lull; then he heard the fierce
galloping of hoofs; and still louder shouts and cries arose, mingled
with shrieks and groans; and above all, strange and terrible sounds,
like fierce claps of thunder, bellowing loud, and then dying off in
cracking echoes; and red tongues of flame shot out ever and anon among
the trees, and clouds of sulphurous smoke came drifting over his head.
And all was still.
Gerard was struck with awe. "What will become of Denys?" he cried. "Oh,
why did you leave me? Oh, Denys, my friend! my friend!"
Just before sunset Denys returned, almost sinking under a hairy bundle.
It was the bear's skin.
Gerard welcomed him with a burst of joy that astonished him.
"I thought never to see you again, dear Denys. Were you in the battle?"
"No. What battle?"
"The bloody battle of men, or fiends, that raged in the wood a while
agone;" and with this he described it to the life, and more fully than I
have done.
Denys patted him indulgently on the back.
"It is well," said he; "thou art a good limner; and fever is a great
spur to the imagination. One day I lay in a cart-shed with a cracked
skull, and saw two hosts manoeuvre and fight a good hour on eight feet
square, the which I did fairly describe to my comrade in due order, only
not so gorgeously as thou, for want of book learning.
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