Page:The Enchanted Knights; or The Chronicle of the Three Sisters.djvu/86

6 him desirous of further intimacy; he therefore asked:—“Stranger, who are you, from whence do you come, and what is your profession?” The stranger answered:—“I am called Waidewuth, the Unknown. I am a swimmer coming from the Amber shore, in Bruzzia, and was sailing towards England.”

The stranger’s physiognomy and surname, and skill in swimming highly excited the prince’s curiosity, but the Unknown so skilfully evaded Udo’s questions that it was impossible for him to learn what he wanted to know, still he hoped after a closer acquaintance to withdraw the mysterious veil that covered him. Thereupon the prince continued his hunting excursion, to which he invited the stranger, who, not showing the slightest appearance of fatigue, accepted the proposal with pleasure, but before he leaped into the saddle he broke the cask, and put a chip of it in his belt, as if for remembrance sake.

During the chase he proved himself no less expert in archery than in swimming. The prince at length left the wood, when galloping over the fallow field towards his residential town, he perceived some jays starting from the ground, and he much regretted the absence of his falcons to cast them in chase.