With all
his knowledge and experience of the moor the colonel found it difficult
to pick his way, and Lady Eleanor's horse floundered so deep that she
was once or twice obliged to dismount before he could get out. Still
the woman led them on until at last the worst of the ground was past,
though the horses still sank at least fetlock-deep at every step. The
watershed was left behind and the ground began to fall rapidly, though
it was so heavily seamed by a network of deep drains dug by the water
through the turf, that without a guide any one would have found it
almost impossible to find a way out. Colonel George watched carefully
for landmarks as he went on, and looked out keenly for the hut, but
could see nothing. Once or twice the woman smiled grimly as she saw
his eyes roving in every direction, and the colonel smiled back and
said: "It's a good job that the deer do not cross here, mistress, for
no horse could live with them;" but she only shook her head and said
nothing.
At length the rank red and yellow grass of the boggy ground showed a
patch or two of heather. They were riding upon a ridge between two
streams, and Colonel George was wondering which of the two they were
about to follow, when the woman turned sharply downward on one side and
followed the stream up for a little way; and then suddenly there opened
out a little cross combe, so deep and narrow that the colonel might
have been excused for not seeing it.
Pages:
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126