Читать книгу The Pedestrian's Guide through North Wales. A tour performed in 1837 онлайн
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The bride, habited in a snow white dress, with some white heath flowers bound in her braided hair, was the admiration of all. Owen in his new suit, made for the occasion, looked handsomer than ever. They danced together upon the new mown grass, while Jordan, the minstrel, played his blithest tunes. At length, the party sat down to the repast, and rustic jests were given and returned with glee and good humour; when suddenly, the bridegroom being called aside, Mary took that opportunity to steal away, meaning to run off to the church, and laugh at Owen’s and his friend’s perplexity at her absence, and their astonishment at finding her at the church porch before them.
She was soon missed; and, suspecting it was a trick to perplex them, away the whole party ran in different directions in search of the runaway.
Mary had nearly arrived at the old woman’s cottage when Owen descried her. He had not forgotten the scene of the preceding night, and his heart had some painful misgivings that all was not right when he first missed his bride so suddenly from the breakfast table. Owen shouted and shouted! but the more he exercised his lungs, the faster she made use of her heels, when suddenly the “stag of six,” which he had seen the night before, darted from the old woman’s cottage, and ran furiously at Mary, who turned round and retraced her steps with fear and terror, but with the speed of the wind. She flew past Owen, who endeavoured to stop the deer, but all in vain. The interposing trees at times prevented the animal from pursuing, by entangling his branches with the lower boughs; but these impediments seemed only to redouble his fury when he again released himself, and Owen had not yet come up with him, though Mary kept the lead. Other friends now joined in the attempt to drive the creature in another direction, and with hands joined they formed a barrier, shouting and hallooing to frighten the stag as he approached the park; but all in vain; he bounded on more furiously than before, scattering the crowd in every direction. Owen at length overtook the furious stag, and was just in time to succour Mary. His coat, which he had taken off in the race, he dexterously managed to fling over the antlers of the brute, which, falling over its eyes, for a minute confounded the deer, and taking his Mary by the arm, he hurried her away in the direction of the cottage, but not in time to elude the pursuit of the infuriated animal, which having shaken off the blind followed them at full speed. Owen had no means of defence; the stag approached rapidly; he bade Mary continue her speed and reach the cottage, and then, with desperate valour, awaited the attack; in an instant after, he had grasped the horns and was dashed to the ground with violence: he rose again and with a bound leaped upon its back. The creature flung his antlers back, whirled round and round, but still Owen sat immoveable, and new hopes arose in the breasts of his friends, who gathered near and hemmed them round, when suddenly the beast rushed sideways against the trunk of a huge oak, and violently fractured Owen’s leg; but with persevering bravery he still kept his seat. At length, unable to rid itself of its burthen, the creature rolled upon the earth, and in the fall Owen’s right arm was shattered, and his foe once again free. It reared and placed its fore feet on the chest of Owen; and, as he raised himself once more to grapple with his enemy, its pointed antlers struck into his heart, and with a groan he instantly expired, while the fierce animal took to the mountains, and was seen no more.