By the light of the fires, in spite of the care with which she tried to conceal her face, it was plainly seen that she was as beautiful as she was young, and as young as she was beautiful. Ricla, who was the best judge of ages, guessed that she might be from sixteen to seventeen years old. The herdsmen and shepherds asked her if she was pursued, or if anything had happened to her that required a speedy help; to which the unhappy girl replied, "The first help I need, sirs, is to be put under ground, or I had better say that I may be hidden somewhere, so that no one can find me; the second, that you will give me some food, for I am well nigh expiring from fatigue and fright." "We will show that we have charity," said an old shepherd; and he went quickly towards the hollow trunk of a tree--the ruin of a once noble oak--and placing within it some snowy fleeces of sheep and goats, he made a sort of bed, good enough for the present necessity; then taking the young lady in his arms, he hid her in the old tree, and then brought her some milk; (he would have given her wine had she wished it;) then he covered her up closely with more sheep-skins, and hung them also about the tree, as if to dry them. Ricla, who watched all this, speedily conjectured that this must be the mother of the baby that she held in her arms. She went up to the old shepherd, saying, "Let not your charity, good sir, stop here, but extend it to this infant, which is perishing of hunger;" and she quickly explained how they had come by it. Answering more to her wants than words, the old shepherd called to one of the other shepherds, and bid him take the child to the sheep-fold, and put it by one of the goats in such a manner as to enable it to suck: he had hardly done this, and hardly had the last wailing cry of the baby ceased, when a troop of horsemen rode up to the fold, and asked if they had seen anything of a fugitive young woman, or of a man on horseback. But as no one gave them any intelligence of what they demanded, they passed on with extreme speed, which not a little rejoiced the charitable protectors of the woman and child; and the night passed away more quietly than the pilgrims expected, and more merrily to the herdsmen and shepherds, who had not looked for so much good company. FOOTNOTES: [M] The Gracioso of the Spanish Comedy. [Illustration] CHAPTER III. _The Damsel in the Tree gives an account of herself._