Yet, as inquiry became stricter, and the
disappearance of individuals more frequent, the simple inhabitants of
the neighbouring hamlet were agitated by the most fearful
apprehensions. Some declared that the deathlike stillness of the night
was often interrupted by sudden and preternatural cries of more than
mortal anguish, which seemed to arise in the distance; and a shepherd
one evening, who had lost his way on the moor, declared he had
approached three mysterious figures, who seemed struggling against each
other with supernatural energy, till at length one of them, with a
frightful scream, suddenly sunk into the earth.
Gradually the inhabitants deserted their dwellings on the heath, and
settled in distant quarters, till at length but one of the cottages
continued to be inhabited by an old woman and her two sons, who loudly
lamented that poverty chained them to this solitary and mysterious
spot. Travellers who frequented this road now generally did so in
groups to protect each other; and if night overtook them, they usually
stopped at the humble cottage of the old woman and her sons, where
cleanliness compensated for the want of luxury, and where, over a
blazing fire of peat, the bolder spirits smiled at the imaginary
terrors of the road, and the more timid trembled as they listened to
the tales of terror and affright with which their hosts entertained
them.
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