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.
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