After an hour's walking he came upon the ruins of a village.

Smoke was still curling up from the charred beams and rafters of the cottages, and the destruction had evidently taken place but the day before.

The bodies of several men and women lay scattered among the houses; two or three dogs were prowling about, and these growled angrily at the intruder, and would have attacked him had he not flourished a club which he had cut in the woods for self defence.
Moving about through the village he heard a sound of wild laughter, and going in that direction saw a woman sitting on the ground.

In her lap was a dead child pierced through with a lance.

The woman was talking and laughing to it, her clothes were torn, and her hair fell in wild disorder over her shoulders.