38 The Flame-Flower

many a javelin-cast, Evan saw that its eyes
shone like burnished copper ; and when the
wolf-shadow had gazed upon the flowers, it
came forth to cross the meadows toward the
house ; but when its foot touched the groups
of flowers their petals leapt up suddenly to
ten times their height, so that the wolf-
shadow gave forth a great howl of pain and
fear, fleeing‘again into the forest.

All this Evan saw dimly, except the
brightness of the flowers; for the light of
day had almost gone.

All this happened on the day when
Evan’s daughter was born, at the hour of
her birth; and she was called Flamma, in
the language of the conquerors whom
Evan loved.

Now Morddec, Evan’s cousin who hated
all men, dwelt in a little castle of stone
which he had built upon a rock in the dark
forests where no good man dared to dwell.
He and his men had built it; for Morddec
had gathered to him nine others, outlaws
and landless men, who had been driven forth