'
'I love thee, Nathos, and I would that I might be ever by thy side. Let me
flee with thee from this place.'
Nathos knit his brows in thought. 'Fair one, if we are seen as we leave
the forest, then is it death to us both; and if we are not seen, still is
it death, for when it is known of the King that Deirdre is fled, then will
the land be searched until she be found, and then shall we die.'
'But, Nathos, Concobar is not King in the land of Alba. Let us flee from
Erin, and there in thine own land shall we surely find safety.'
'Thou speakest well, brave Deirdre. If a host be sent from Concobar to
Alba, then shall it be met by a host of mine own land. And a fair land it
is. Scented with pine and seaweed are its shores, blue as thine eyes are
its waters, and of its setting sun the glory cannot be told.'
'Let us go forth,' said Deirdre.
'Then let it be now and without delay, or it may never be,' and as Nathos
uttered these words Deirdre saw a strange look in his eyes, and in a
moment he had flung his javelin among the bracken but a few paces apart.
'What beast wouldst thou slay?' cried Deirdre, affrighted.
'It was no beast,' said Nathos, 'but yonder among the bracken lieth a dead
man, if my javelin missed not its mark.'
In fear and wonder Deirdre ran to the spot. No man lay there, but she saw
on the bracken the form of a crouching man. She saw, too, the tracks that
marked his escape.
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