This side of the character of Glendower puzzled Oswald. Several times,
when talking to him, he distinctly claimed supernatural powers; and
from the tone in which he spoke, and the strange expression his face at
this time assumed, Oswald was convinced that he sincerely believed that
he did possess these powers. Whether he originally did so; or whether
it had arisen from the adulation of the bards, the general belief in
it, and the successes he had gained; Oswald could not determine. Later,
when Glendower sullied his fair fame by the most atrocious massacres,
similar to that which had already taken place at the storming of New
Radnor--atrocities that seemed not only purposeless, but at utter
variance with the courtesy and gentleness of his bearing--Oswald came
to believe that his brain had, to some extent, become unhinged by
excitement, flattery, and superstition.
At the end of the fortnight Roger's wound, although not completely
healed, was in such a state that it permitted his sitting on horseback,
and Oswald became anxious to be off. Glendower, who was about to set
out to harass the rear of the army, as it retired from Cardiganshire,
at once offered to send a strong escort with him; as it would have been
dangerous, in the extreme, to have attempted to traverse the country
without such a protection. Two excellent horses, that had been captured
in the engagement with the English, were handed over to him, for his
own use and that of Roger. Oswald's own armour was returned to him, and
he was pleased to find that it had been carefully attended to, and was
as brightly burnished as when it came into his possession.
When Glendower bid them adieu, he presented each of them with rings,
similar to those he himself wore.
"You have promised that you will not fight against me again; but it may
be that, on some errand or other, you may ride into Wales; or that you
may be staying, as you did before, at some castle or town near the
border, when we attack it. You have but to show these rings to any
Welshman you may come across, and you may be sure of being well
treated, as one of my friends.
"I trust that, when we meet again, the war will be over; and that my
title to the kingdom of Wales may be recognized, by your king and
people, as it is on this side of the border."
"Well, Sir Oswald," Roger said, as they rode away, accompanied by
twenty of Glendower's followers, under the orders of an officer; "we
have got out of that scrape better than could have been expected. When
you and I were alone, in the midst of that crowd of Welshmen, I thought
that it was all over with us."
"So did I, Roger. You see, that matter of our getting Glendower's
daughters away, uninjured, has borne good fruit."
"It has indeed," Roger agreed. "I thought it much more likely, too,
that it would have gone the other way."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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